Panthers players praise McCaffrey: 'He's the MVP'

It's becoming increasingly difficult to dismiss Christian McCaffrey from the MVP conversation.

On Sunday, the Carolina Panthers running back became the first player since Jim Brown (1963) to post at least 175 scrimmage yards in four of the first five games of the season. He accomplished the feat with a monstrous performance against the Jacksonville Jaguars, amassing 237 total yards and three touchdowns.

"If I was writing, I would see if he's from Earth. I'd have to check to see if he's from Asgard or something," said 10-year NFL veteran Gerald McCoy, according to team reporter Bill Voth. "If the season ended right now, he's the MVP."

The eighth overall pick of the 2017 NFL Draft currently leads all running backs in rushing attempts and yards while ranking second in rushing touchdowns, catches, and receiving yards.

"You always knew he had elite speed, and he was elusive, but now he's kind of figured it out," McCoy added. "Guys like that, I always say, he's not a running back, he's a weapon. He can do everything."

McCaffrey has rushed for 2,120 yards in 37 games since entering the league in 2017. The Stanford product is the youngest player in Panthers history to record 2,000 career rushing yards (23 years, three months).

"Do you see what he's doing? It's ridiculous. He's not human," Panthers linebacker Brian Burns said of McCaffrey's first touchdown against the Jaguars. "... The man's not human. I've never seen somebody jump over a person and make that person hit the other person. I've never seen that ever before in my life."

Averaging 173.2 yards from scrimmage in 2019, McCaffrey is on pace for 2,771 total yards on the year and is in position to break Chris Johnson's single-season record of 2,509 yards set in 2009.

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