
Running back, Stanford, 2014–16
Christian McCaffrey
- Number
- No. 5
- Height
- 6′0″
- Hometown
- Castle Rock, CO
- Born
- Jun 7, 1996, in Castle Rock, Colorado
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Christian McCaffrey played running back at Stanford (2014–16). He won the 2015 Paul Hornung Award. He finished second in the 2015 Heisman vote and was a consensus All‑American in 2015. The Carolina Panthers took McCaffrey in the first round, No. 8 overall in the 2017 NFL Draft.
At a glance
Career highs
284rushing yards, career highat California, 20164rushing touchdowns, career highvs. UCLA, 20157catches, career highvs. Kansas State, 2016112receiving yards, career highvs. Washington, 2015Honors
- 2015Paul Hornung Award
- 2015AP College Football Player of the Year
- 2015Chic Harley Award
- 2015Jet Award
- 2015Consensus All‑American
- 2015Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year
- 2015Second in the Heisman vote
- 2016Academic All-America Team Member of the Year
- 2016Ninth in the Heisman vote
Team titles: Pac-12 champions, 2015
All-America: consensus 2015; Fox Sports 2016
Players of the year, conference and regional honors: Wikipedia’s lists (CC BY-SA), each linked from its honor.
Rushing
Returns
Receiving
Season lines from CollegeFootballData, regular season and bowls.
On the roster
As each season’s roster listed the player (CollegeFootballData). Classes before the latest listing are counted back from it; “Yr 1” is the year on file where that count can’t place a season he played (a redshirt, transfer or 2020 year); height and weight as last listed.
Per play
| Season | Team | Plays | EPA/play | Pctile | Median | Total | Usage | Adj. rush |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Stanford | 59 | 0.47 | – | – | 27.7 | 8% | – |
| 2015 | Stanford | 390 | 0.27 | 87th (n=268) | 0.12 | 105.4 | 41% | 0.16 |
| 2016 | Stanford | 299 | 0.26 | 83rd (n=259) | 0.13 | 78.6 | 42% | 0.31 |
Expected points added: how much the player’s plays moved the team’s expected score, per play and in total. Plays: total EPA divided by EPA per play, the plays the source credits to him (for a receiver roughly his catches and runs, not every target; for a passer, not every attempt), so it can differ from attempts plus carries. Percentile: against the position’s regulars that season across all divisions on file (quarterbacks with 150+ plays, backs 60+, receivers and tight ends 30+), with how many there were (n) and their median; a dash means too few plays to rank. A season in progress uses the full-season bar scaled by games played, never below 75 plays for quarterbacks, 30 for backs and 20 for receivers. The cohort grows or shrinks with the source’s coverage each season (2025 lists far more players), so compare percentiles rather than raw EPA across years. FCS seasons are marked. Usage: the share of the team’s plays the player was part of (shown from 20 plays). Adjusted pass and rush: EPA per play adjusted for the defenses faced (CollegeFootballData’s WEPA). From CollegeFootballData, 2013 on.
Game by game
2016 Stanford 11 games, 1,603 rushing yards, 13 TD
| Date | Opponent | Result | Car | Rush yds | Rush TD | KR | Yds | PR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2 | vs. | W 26–13 | 22 | 126 | 2 | 1 | 28 | 2 |
| Sep 17 | vs. | W 27–10 | 31 | 172 | 1 | 1 | 22 | – |
| Sep 24 | at | W 22–13 | 26 | 138 | 0 | 1 | 14 | – |
| Sep 30 | at | L 6–44 | 12 | 49 | 0 | 5 | 144 | – |
| Oct 8 | vs. | L 16–42 | 8 | 35 | 0 | 3 | 43 | – |
| Oct 22 | vs. | L 5–10 | 21 | 92 | 0 | – | – | 1 |
| Oct 29 | at | W 34–10 | 23 | 169 | 2 | – | – | 3 |
| Nov 5 | vs. | W 26–15 | 32 | 199 | 1 | 2 | 36 | – |
| Nov 12 | at | W 52–27 | 17 | 135 | 3 | 1 | 31 | – |
| Nov 19 | at | W 45–31 | 31 | 284 | 3 | – | – | 1 |
| Nov 26 | vs. | W 41–17 | 30 | 204 | 1 | – | – | 3 |
2015 Stanford 14 games, 2,019 rushing yards, 8 TD
| Date | Opponent | Result | Car | Rush yds | Rush TD | KR | Yds | PR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 5 | at | L 6–16 | 12 | 66 | 0 | 4 | 90 | 1 |
| Sep 12 | vs. | W 31–7 | 20 | 58 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 2 |
| Sep 19 | at | W 41–31 | 26 | 115 | 0 | 5 | 97 | – |
| Sep 25 | at | W 42–24 | 30 | 206 | 0 | 2 | 56 | 1 |
| Oct 3 | vs. | W 55–17 | 17 | 156 | 1 | 2 | 98 | 4 |
| Oct 15 | vs. | W 56–35 | 25 | 243 | 4 | 2 | 122 | – |
| Oct 24 | vs. | W 31–14 | 23 | 109 | 1 | 3 | 79 | – |
| Oct 31 | at | W 30–28 | 22 | 107 | 0 | – | – | 1 |
| Nov 7 | at | W 42–10 | 23 | 147 | 0 | 2 | 46 | 1 |
| Nov 14 | vs. | L 36–38 | 33 | 147 | 1 | 2 | 60 | 1 |
| Nov 21 | vs. | W 35–22 | 29 | 192 | 0 | 3 | 148 | – |
| Nov 28 | vs. | W 38–36 | 27 | 94 | 0 | 5 | 109 | 1 |
| Dec 5 | vs. | W 41–22 | 32 | 207 | 1 | 5 | 120 | 2 |
| Jan 1 ✦ | vs. | W 45–16 | 18 | 172 | 0 | 1 | 28 | 1 |
2014 Stanford 12 games, 300 rushing yards
| Date | Opponent | Result | Car | Rush yds | Rush TD | KR | Yds | PR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 30 | vs. | W 45–0 | 1 | 10 | 0 | – | – | 3 |
| Sep 13 | vs. | W 35–0 | 4 | 29 | 0 | – | – | – |
| Sep 27 | at | W 20–13 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Oct 4 | at | L 14–17 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Oct 10 | vs. | W 34–17 | 3 | 28 | 0 | – | – | – |
| Oct 18 | at | L 10–26 | 1 | −3 | 0 | 3 | 38 | – |
| Oct 25 | vs. | W 38–14 | 3 | 19 | 0 | – | – | 1 |
| Nov 1 | at | L 16–45 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 29 | – |
| Nov 15 | vs. | L 17–20 | 8 | 77 | 0 | 2 | 24 | – |
| Nov 22 | at | W 38–17 | 3 | 19 | 0 | – | – | – |
| Nov 28 | at | W 31–10 | 11 | 64 | 0 | – | – | 1 |
| Dec 30 ✦ | vs. | W 45–21 | 7 | 57 | 0 | – | – | 4 |
Box scores from CollegeFootballData, 2004 on. ✦ postseason; ★ a career high on file.
Before the draft
| Drill | Combine 2017 |
|---|---|
| Height | 5′11¼″ |
| Weight | 202 lb |
| Arm length | 30″ |
| Hand size | 9″ |
| Wingspan | 71⅝″W |
| 40-yard dash | 4.48 s |
| 10-yard split | 1.52 sW |
| Vertical jump | 37½″ |
| Broad jump | 10′1″ |
| Bench press | 10 reps |
| 3-cone drill | 6.57 s |
| 20-yard shuttle | 4.22 s |
Unmarked: Combine and pro day results compiled by array-carpenter (nfl-draft-data); W: Pre-draft measurables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
In the NFL
10 seasons, 117 games with a stat; latest team: San Francisco 49ers.
Pro Bowls: 3 (2019, 2023, 2025) · First-team All-Pro (AP): 3 (2019, 2023, 2025) · Second-team All-Pro (AP): 2018
All-Pro teams: AP first team 2019, 2023, 2025; AP second team 2018; Pro Football Writers first team 2019, 2023, 2025; Sporting News first team 2019, 2023, 2025.
| Season | Team | G | Car | Yds | TD | Rec | Rec yds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Carolina Panthers | 16 | 117 | 435 | 2 | 80 | 651 |
| 2018 | Carolina Panthers | 16 | 219 | 1,098 | 7 | 107 | 867 |
| 2019 | Carolina Panthers | 16 | 287 | 1,387 | 15 | 116 | 1,005 |
| 2020 | Carolina Panthers | 3 | 59 | 225 | 5 | 17 | 149 |
| 2021 | Carolina Panthers | 7 | 99 | 442 | 1 | 37 | 343 |
| 2022 | San Francisco 49ers | 17 | 244 | 1,139 | 8 | 85 | 741 |
| 2023 | San Francisco 49ers | 16 | 272 | 1,459 | 14 | 67 | 564 |
| 2024 | San Francisco 49ers | 4 | 50 | 202 | 0 | 15 | 146 |
| 2025 | San Francisco 49ers | 17 | 311 | 1,202 | 10 | 102 | 924 |
| 2026 (so far) | San Francisco 49ers | 5 | 61 | 286 | 5 | 19 | 137 |
| NFL career | 117 | 1,719 | 7,875 | 67 | 645 | 5,527 | |
Regular seasons, from nflverse (CC BY 4.0). G counts games in which the player recorded a stat. Pro Bowls and All-Pro teams by NFL season: rosters and honors, Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
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