New linebacker ready to meet McCaffrey head on
There’s a fear of the unknown for the Raiders on Sunday against the Carolina Panthers, given their opponent has a new system of offense, a new coaching staff and zero film on which to study.
Then again, it’s not that mysterious. The Raiders know where the ball is going more often than not, and it will be to running back Christian McCaffrey.
“My man can do anything,” Raiders linebacker Cory Littleton said Wednesday during a videoconference. “Don’t know where they’re going to put him, and he’s always a factor in whatever type of play they’re going on. We’ve just got to key him. Do your best to shut him down in the run game and the pass game, and make the other team use their other star players that they do have. Force them to make some big plays that way.”
In other words, McCaffrey will get the ball more than anyone else — he was either a rusher or intended receiver last year on 39.8% of the Panthers’ offensive snaps with 287 runs and 142 targets. And when McCaffrey doesn’t get the ball, the dilemma is that a Raider or two will be shadowing him, giving another Carolina player with less attention a chance to deliver.
McCaffrey, a first-round draft pick out of Stanford, is the NFL’s most dangerous and versatile offensive weapon. In a sport that often shortchanges running backs in terms of salary because of attrition, Carolina gave McCaffrey a four-year extension worth $16 million per year, making him the highest-paid player at his position in the NFL.
Of course, in joining the 49ers’ Roger Craig (1985) and the Rams’ Marshall Faulk (1999) in becoming the third back in NFL history with 1,000 yards both rushing and receiving, McCaffrey’s position can change from snap to snap.
“You have to know who you’re dealing with,” Raiders coach Jon Gruden said. “He’s a great tailback. He can function in a two-back set. He’s a great receiver out of the backfield. He’s a guy they can put in the slot. He can option routes and seam routes. Most teams in pro football are finding guys like this and Carolina arguably has the very best. We have to know where “22” is, that’s for sure.”
McCaffrey ran the ball 287 times for 1,387 yards and 15 touchdowns and caught 116 passes for 1,005 yards and four scores in 2019, and new coach Matt Rhule expects the 25 to 27 touches per game McCaffrey got a year ago will continue unabated.
The Raiders, who had issues covering backs out of the backfield for better part of the 25 years in their return to Oakland, made their biggest free agency splash in Las Vegas by signing Littleton for an average of $12 million per season. Littleton arrives with the reputation as being one of the best pass defenders at his position in the NFL.
“This team respected me so much, thinking I could cover any running back or tight end,” Littleton said. “I appreciated it so much and
I’ll try to live up to all the expectations.”
Littleton was in Carolina during Week 1 a year ago when the Los Angeles Rams visited the Panthers. The good news is the Rams won 30-27 and Littleton had 14 tackles, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and broke up two passes. The bad news is that even with Littleton making plays all over the field, McCaffrey had 19 carries for 128 yards and two touchdowns and caught 10 passes in 11 targets for 81 yards.
On one of McCaffrey’s scores, an 8-yard run, he took the snap as a wildcat quarterback and ran it in.
Since the Panthers offense under former LSU coordinator Joe Brady will be making its debut, Littleton and middle linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski, another new signing, will have some responsibilities for defending McCaffrey in the passing game. Same goes for safeties Johnathan Abram and Erik Harris. In the run game, McCaffrey can either come straight downhill or get to the edge, and he’s a threat on fly sweeps and reverses as well.
Littleton says it’s going to take all 11 men to keep McCaffrey from having a monster game while at the same time dealing with a new offensive system under quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. Littleton said he and Kwiatkoski are on the same page and the Raiders are as ready as can be expected with no offseason and no exhibition season.
“Right now, where we are, we’re not perfect but we’re really something special,” Littleton said. “I can see it, and I expect us to show that.”