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Christian McCaffrey returned from leg injuries with a vengeance this season.
A calf injury in August 2024 that was supposed to keep the running back out “a couple weeks” turned into him missing the first eight games of the season. He then sustained a knee injury after just four games and sat out the remainder of the year.
But this season, he was his usual self, and it has resulted in quite the recognition from the media.
With his performance after last year’s disappointment, McCaffrey is obviously in the running — and probably the favorite — to be the league’s Comeback Player of the Year. But that’s not all.
McCaffrey is the only non-quarterback to be an MVP finalist, and he is also in the running for his second Offensive Player of the Year Award in three years after putting up 2,126 scrimmage yards and scoring 17 total touchdowns.
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Only Adrian Peterson in 2012 and Joe Burrow last year have been finalists for all three awards in one season (Drew Brees finished second for all in 2006, but finalists were not named then). Peterson was named the MVP and OPOY while finishing second in Comeback Player of the Year, while Burrow was the Comeback Player of the Year for the second time in his career, which he joked isn’t exactly ideal.
McCaffrey finished 76 yards shy of his second 1,000-1,000 season, but he joined the fraternity in 2019 along with Roger Craig and Marshall Faulk. He did, however, have by far the most receptions of any running back with 102 — Bijan Robinson was second with 79.
Earlier this season, McCaffrey was named a first-team All-Pro for the third time in his career. McCaffrey is one of eight players with three or more 2,000-yard scrimmage seasons. Faulk, Eric Dickerson and Walter Payton each had four.
As an aside, McCaffrey is also a finalist for the NFL’s Salute to Service Award, presented by USAA, which “[uses] the power of football to connect with, empower, appreciate and uplift our service members, veterans and their families.”
McCaffrey will find out his fate for all four awards at the NFL Honors in the Bay Area during Super Bowl week on Feb. 5.
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