National Football League

Social media reacts to blockbuster Christian McCaffrey trade to 49ers

Updated Oct. 21, 2022 1:58 a.m. ET

Christian McCaffrey is now a San Francisco 49er.

The former Stanford Cardinal and Carolina Panthers star is returning to the Bay Area, giving Kyle Shanahan's offense arguably the best running back available on the 2022 midseason NFL trade market.

In return, the Panthers received second-, third- and fourth-round picks in the 2023 NFL draft and a 2024 fifth-round pick, per FOX Sports NFL Insider Jay Glazer, jump-starting the rebuild in Carolina.

NFL Twitter was buzzing after the trade, including McCaffrey's new teammate George Kittle:

Kevin Burkhardt, who will call the FOX NFL Game of the Week between the 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs at 4:25 p.m. ET Sunday in what could possibly be McCaffrey's San Francisco debut, also weighed in. As did FOX Sports analysts Nick Wright and Emmanuel Acho.

Super Bowl winner and former NFL receiver James Jones said Thursday on Speak that he would like to see McCaffrey in Shanahan's 49ers offense.

The trade to the 49ers marks a homecoming for McCaffrey in several ways. Not only was he a college superstar at nearby Stanford, but his father and former NFL wide receiver, Ed McCaffrey, won a Super Bowl with San Francisco in the 1994 season. Ed also won two more with the Denver Broncos in the late 1990s – with Shanahan's father, Mike Shanahan, as Denver's head coach.

Some also expressed shock, and even some criticism at the amount of draft picks the 49ers gave up for McCaffrey. San Francisco was already without its 2023 first-round pick due to its trade to move up and select Trey Lance third overall in 2021.

Part of the steep price reportedly had to do with the other finalist in the McCaffrey trade sweepstakes: the 49ers' division rival Los Angeles Rams. Instead of swinging another patented midseason trade for a star, the Rams will now have to face McCaffrey in back-to-back games.

Meanwhile, the NFL took a break from helping promote pop star Taylor Swift's new album, Midnights, which she teased with a trailer on Thursday Night Football and on the league's social channels, to react to the news.

Or did they?