It didn’t take long for the Carolina Panthers to find their replacement for Christian McCaffrey. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Miles Sanders has agreed to a four-year contract with coach Frank Reich’s new team.
It’s a fascinating landing spot for Sanders being that he should be able to step right back into a leading role in the backfield. Plus, he gets to reunite with Duce Staley, who was Philadelphia’s running backs coach for Sanders’s first two seasons from 2019-20. Staley recently joined Carolina’s coaching staff as the assistant head coach in addition to handling running back coaching duties as well.
Despite trading CMC after the Pro Bowl back made just six starts, the Panthers still managed to finish with the 10th-best rushing attack in the NFL in 2022. The previous line of thinking pointed to pending free agent D’Onta Foreman returning to Carolina as he enjoyed a career year, breaking out for 914 yards in nine starts, but that ship may have sailed with Sanders joining the Panthers.
- Miles Sanders’s stats last season: 259 carries, 1,269 rushing yards, 11 TDs
Yet, it’s understandable that the Panthers would prefer Sanders, who is still just 25 years old and is coming off a season in which he racked up over 1,300 yards from scrimmage. While Foreman remains a free agent, the Panthers do still have Chuba Hubbard on hand for a change of pace back should Sanders need a breather.
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