Christian McCaffery Out For Week Eight As He Nears Return

After suffering a high ankle sprain in week two, Carolina Panthers’ star running back Christian McCaffery claimed that he was going to “attack” recovery like he attacks other issues in his life and hoped to beat the usual four- to six-week recovery timetable for the injury. Unfortunately, that has not panned out. It was announced on Thursday that McCaffery will not be playing in the Panthers Thursday Night Football matchup against the Atlanta Falcons.

So far, the Panthers have played fine in his absence with a 3-4 record and their play has been far more competent than was predicted during the pre-season. They have been receiving solid performance from backup running back Mike Davis, so it makes sense that the team is not trying to rush McCaffery back on the field.

When his comments about attacking the timetable were released, many pointed to this as a bad idea recalling when running back Saquon Barkley suffered a high ankle sprain last season and struggled to return to form after coming back before the four- to six-week timetable was completed.