Lots of upsides to McCaffrey move

A few notes on Thursday night’s blockbuster trade that sent running back Christian McCaffrey to the 49ers:

It’s a great trade for the Niners, with a big “if ” — if McCaffrey, 26, can stay healthy.

So far, so good this year — he had six starts and played in 85.2 percent of snaps for the Panthers. McCaffrey had three of the Panthers’ seven touchdowns, and 40 percent of their total yards (670).

Put him in Kyle Shanahan’s offense and McCaffrey could be a monster similar to 2019, when he had just the third 1,000/1,000 season in NFL history. An offense featuring McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, and George Kittle sounds like a Pro Bowl roster. Jimmy Garoppolo

has to be salivating.

But the injury risk is real. A high ankle sprain and shoulder injuries cost McCaffrey 13 games in 2020. Hamstring and ankle injuries cost him 10 games in 2021. The Niners are gambling that McCaffrey, in his sixth NFL season, can stay on the field.

The 49ers are also punting on the 2023 NFL Draft. They previously traded their first-round pick for Trey Lance.

Now they have traded a No. 2, 3, and a 4 for McCaffrey. The Niners have just two compensatory 3s, a 5, and two 7s next year. Hey, it worked for the Rams.

McCaffrey will cost San Francisco just $690,000 for the rest of the season. He has three years and $36 million left after this year, but with virtually no guarantee and no dead salary-cap money, so the Niners can always move on if they need to.

The trade represents a reunion for the Shanahan and McCaffrey families. Mike Shanahan was Ed McCaffrey’s

coach for nine seasons in Denver (19952003), and now their sons have a coach-player relationship. Kyle Shanahan is 16 years older than Christian McCaffrey, so perhaps he was his baby sitter.

The 1-5 Panthers are in the midst of “don’t call it tanking” mode, after firing coach Matt Rhule and trading McCaffrey and receiver Robbie Anderson. They will take an $8 million dead salary-cap hit this year and $18.35 million next year, but the Panthers are hoarding draft picks and starting over, with an emphasis on finally finding a quarterback next offseason.

They got a nice return from the Niners, and have the early lead for the

No. 1 pick.

The Panthers’ phones should be busy the next two weeks with teams asking about receiver D.J. Moore and pass rusher Brian Burns.