Super Bowl 2024 will feature a sundry of players that have probably carried your fantasy football team at one point or another over the past five years.
It’s hard to question Christian McCaffrey standing at the top of that list.
The MVP candidate and rushing champion finished the campaign with seven games of 100-plus rushing yards.
McCaffrey’s 21 total touchdown scores torched the league and marked a new career-high in what is already a Hall of Fame résumé. He also led the running back position in red zone touches, yards created, target share and route participation.
I don’t have enough space in the word count to recount the rest of his numbers — you get the point.
So this obviously means that Kyle Shanahan is going to feed him the ball left and right against the Chiefs, right? Not necessarily.
This team is too dynamic and too smart to simply ride the most effective player on the field and expect that to suffice against Andy Reid.
Not to say McCaffrey isn’t primed to make a serious splash, but I’m going to favor the Under on his rushing attempts prop of 18.5 for a few reasons.
The first is Deebo Samuel’s backfield usage. The versatile gadget receiver had three carries against the Lions, and the Chiefs are much less sturdy against the run.
McCaffrey cleared this line on only 38.9 percent of games this season. Oddsmakers also set him at 18.5 attempts in the NFC Championship game, and he finished with 20, but he hadn’t hit 19 since Thanksgiving before that.
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I also wrote in The Post last week about how I think we should see more scrambling from Brock Purdy here given its positive effect throughout the playoffs.
McCaffrey’s heavy involvement in the pass game is also such a valuable dimension to this offense, so I’m counting on Shanahan’s extensive playbook to supersede.
THE PLAY: Christian McCaffrey Under 18.5 rush attempts (-105. FanDuel)
