Running back Christian McCaffery is heading back to the west coast in a blockbuster trade between the San Francisco 49ers and the Carolina Panthers. (AP)

by Marko Ukalovic

The San Francisco 49ers have gone all in trying to win it all this season.

They acquired superstar running back Christian McCaffery from the Carolina Panthers for a slew of draft picks in 2023 and 24 late Thursday evening.

Carolina received a second-, third- and fourth-round picks in 2023 and a fifth-round pick in 2024. The Panthers are looking to rebuild after starting out a dismal 1-5 this season and fired head coach Matt Rhule back on October 10th after losing to San Francisco 37-15.

The 49ers gain an offensive weapon needed to compete for a Super Bowl and add McCaffery to an offensive arsenal that boasts Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk and George Kittle.

McCaffery’s 670 yards from scrimmage — a team-leading 393 yards rushing and team-leading 33 catches for 277 yards — this season rank fourth in the NFL.

San Francisco now has McCaffery under contract till 2025 and the restructuring of his contract back in December 2021 makes financial sense for the 49ers. Carolina also gets cap relief with over $54 million of cap hits coming off their books.

McCaffery returns back to the Bay Area where he starred for Stanford’s football team from 2014-16.