Christian McCaffrey’s injury vs Texans adds to brief history of setbacks for Panthers RB

Throughout his football career, Carolina’s star running back Christian McCaffrey has been largely durable.

But he hasn’t been the past two years — and the injury bug bit again Thursday night in the second quarter of the Panthers’ Week 3 game against the Houston Texans.

His injury could rehash discussions of McCaffrey’s workload: The running back had 59 touches through two games in 2021, which was on pace to break the single-season record, especially considering this is a 17-game regular season opposed to 16.

Here’s a look at McCaffrey’s injury history:

Christian McCaffrey injury history

Oct. 8, 2016: Undisclosed injury against Washington State (while McCaffrey was at Stanford); that same year, he opted to not play in a bowl game to prepare for the 2017 NFL draft.

2020 Week 2: High ankle sprain vs. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

2020 Week 9: Shoulder sprain vs. the Kansas City Chiefs.

2020 Week 13: Thigh injury while training on his own during the Panthers’ bye week.

2021 Week 2: Cramps (only missed one series) against the New Orleans Saints.

2021 Week 3: Hamstring against the Houston Texans.

This story was originally published September 23, 2021 at 10:22 PM with the headline "Christian McCaffrey’s injury vs Texans adds to brief history of setbacks for Panthers RB."

Alex Zietlow

The Herald

Alex Zietlow writes about sports and the ways in which they intersect with life in York, Chester and Lancaster counties for The Herald, where he has been an editor and reporter since August 2019. Zietlow has won nine S.C. Press Association awards in his career, including First Place finishes in Feature Writing, Sports Enterprise Writing and Education Beat Reporting. He also received two Top-10 awards in the 2021 APSE writing contest and was nominated for the 2022 U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s Rising Star award for his coverage of the Winthrop men’s basketball team.