49ers’ Christian McCaffrey On Fantasy Football, Life With Olivia Culpo & His Favorite Aston Martin
“There’s a lot more that goes into playing than what people see. It’s pretty frowned upon to bring up fantasy football.”
On any given Sunday fans around the world tune into the National Football League to watch Christian McCaffrey of the San Francisco 49ers light up the gridiron unlike anyone.
It’s not hyperbole to state CMC is one of the most electric and explosive players of all time. After shattering records in both high school (Colorado) and college (Stanford), he was drafted 8th overall in 2017 by the Carolina Panthers, and soon became one of only three players ever to record 1,000 rushing and 1,000 receiving yards in the same season.
In 2020 Christian was voted 6th overall by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 list, and was rewarded with a four-year / $64 million extension by the Panthers, making him the highest-paid running back in NFL history. Notably, soon after our interview McCaffrey was blessed by the Football Gods when the Panthers traded him to the 49ers for a haul of draft picks, offering him a rare shot at a Super Bowl run.
And all the star running back did days later was notch the rarest of all touchdown hat tricks: rushing, catching and even throwing a TD in the same game, becoming one of only three players in the Super Bowl era ever to accomplish this unicorn feat.
You’re one of the most electric players in the NFL, consistently a top fantasy football pick. Any bragging rights in the locker room?
It’s never discussed; I don’t know if I’ve ever had a fantasy football conversation in an NFL locker room. I think the thing with fantasy is especially offensive-skill players have mixed emotions about what it’s done for our game.
Obviously we love it because it’s brought so many new viewers into football, but at the same time part of what makes football so great is the team aspect, and certain plays—say if you pick up a blitz that leads to someone throwing a touchdown, that’s a big play that might not go on the fantasy sheet but that’s rewarded in our game.
It’s a selfless game…. You also don’t really have time. There’s a lot more that goes into playing football than what people see on Sundays. [It’s] pretty frowned upon to bring up fantasy football. At least in our locker room, they don’t bring it up a lot.
You said the NFL is the world’s greatest team sport. Is it frustrating as someone who’s broken records at every level to have never been on a team with great expectations?
We always have high expectations. I think [some] people might not, but we don’t listen to what people think. Just in the world now people want to define who you are, and if you listen to them that’s your fault…. I think for us the best part about football is that on any given Sunday you can win. There’s not a team in the NFL that can’t beat another team. That’s what makes the sport so great: it’s about who executes on Sunday.
I don’t focus on anything other than my job. On every single day I have so much to do in order to be successful and that’s what I’m focused on. I don’t really have time in the day to focus on someone else’s expectations for me. I have very high expectations for myself. Our team [the Panthers] has very high expectations. It’s a very competitive league, and every game you go into you believe you can win—if you don’t, you shouldn’t be playing.
When you’re sitting there watching the Championship Games from home and you’re texting the guys on the team, how bummed are you all that you haven’t yet made it to that stage?
Oh no, no one’s okay with losing. If your question is, am I okay with it? That answer’s no…. I think obviously, whenever you’re sitting down and the playoffs are going on, it’s frustrating. It pisses you off, it should piss you off, but you can prove them right or you can prove them wrong.
My whole thing has always been just put one foot in front of the other, keep working and good things are going to happen. But this is a league where we’ve seen teams start the year 1-6 and people say, “You’re not a top team,” and they end up making the playoffs. I think that’s the reality of this league, not the bird talk of this league. I go into every game confident as ever with my preparation, confident in my teammates. It’s just about executing.
You have a famously robust recovery regimen—sauna, pulse machine, a very strong relationship with BodyArmor, etc. How important is recovery for you?
Yeah, you play NFL running back you’re going to do your best to find the best way to recover as quickly as possible, because you don’t have another choice. For me it’s… you’re always trying to find out what’s the next best thing, and can this speed up my recovery process?
You mentioned BodyArmor, obviously one thing that’s been consistent is diet and what I put into my body. When it comes to sport drinks in particular recovery’s not just after, it’s during the sport. You’re already starting that recovery process. You’re already training your body to do specific things for long periods of time. That’s why I partnered with BodyArmor, it’s a really easy partnership because I used the product before I partnered with them. It’s a better-for-you sports drink, nothing artificial in it. All of those things are obviously really important when it comes to training. Sometimes you can get a fake high when you’re in the field by putting certain stuff into your body, but it’s not going to have the best benefits for you in the long run.
We heard you drive an Aston Martin DB11. That’s a distinguished choice.
I’m not a massive car guy but I love that car. I love the Bond films [wherein 007 drives an Aston Martin]. All my cars are matte black-on-black, clean. The Aston is an experience when you drive it. It’s not super fancy on the inside, it doesn’t have a lot of gadgets, you feel like you’re flying a plane. It’s got the dashboard that’s very simple and sophisticated, but I love that car. It’s really fun to drive.
Last question: your girl happens to not only be a Maxim cover girl, but also one of our biggest sellers of recent years. How’s life with Olivia?
Yeah, great, she’s awesome man. I wish people could sometimes see her through my eyes too. She works so hard. One of the hardest workers I’ve ever met in my life. You want to talk about somebody who wakes up every day and chases greatness. It’s inspiring to be around her. But she’s doing great, our family’s doing great, we’re doing well.
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