It’s time to admit it, past time, really. There is a pandemic in the fantasy football community: everybody who has the audacity to take a carry AND catch a pass on an NFL field is now the next Christian McCaffrey. The latest rift in alternate universes appears to revolve around rookie Dean Connors, who played college ball most recently at Houston, oddly enough was teammates with CMC’s younger brother Luke McCaffrey at Rice, and who the Rams brought in as an UDFA.
My trusted sourcebros tell me that Connors also considers himself a McCaffrey clone, and is so convinced that McCaffrey’s heavy usage last season will cause him to miss time on the field in 2026 that he committed fully to the bit and caused himself to miss time on the field in 2026 by NOT MAKING THE 53-MAN ROSTER!!!! Sure, Connors could clear waivers and return to the Rams’ practice squad; I mean, what better vote of confidence from the Rams to say “We think you’re the next CMC” than cutting ties and assuming that the 28 other teams ahead of you on the waiver priority list don’t feel the need for your services? That sounds like the Christian McCaffrey I know and love. As someone who’s added Dean Connors in dynasty leagues throughout the preseason, I say, respectfully:
Yes, the man’s had a nice preseason…
…but have we learned nothing from the Antonio Gibson experience?
If you keep comparing everyone and their mother to CMC, then McCaffrey comparisons are eventually going to lose all of their sacred power, and nobody wants that, right? I don’t need to know every McCaffrey-lite or McCaffrey-Schlitz-3.2 out there; we can have our Eli Heidenreichs without making them out to be McCaffrey clones, right? Or not…
Ah yes, because everybody knows combine testing is the end-all, be-all for fantasy production, right? And he’s not actually behind Jaylen Warren and Rico Dowdle, that’s just fake depth chart drivel that coaches use to keep their true RB1’s on their toes. To paraphrase the late George Carlin, “Your giving Christian McCaffrey entirely too much attention, you’ve turned him into a little cult object and it is NOT, healthy. And you say ‘Well I love Christian McCaffrey.’ Everybody loves Christian McCaffrey, doesn’t make you special. John Wayne Gacy loved Christian McCaffrey.”
I sympathize, I really do. McCaffrey is a one-of-a-kind running back talent now in his 30s; it’s no wonder he isn’t in a nursing home by now, but that doesn’t mean we have to live in the bargaining stage of grief, trying to will another McCaffrey into existence. Alright, thanks for listening; I really appreciate it. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some college tape to watch, gonna find me the next Christian McCaffrey.
