Christian McCaffrey won’t head to IR after suffering hamstring injury

Carolina Panthers head coach Matt Rhule said on Monday that star running back Christian McCaffrey will not go on IR, per Darin Gantt. McCaffrey left Thursday’s night game against the Houston Texans with a strained hamstring. At the time of the injury, Rhule said that the starting running back will miss at least a few weeks.

Fantasy football implications

Panthers fans and fantasy football managers can take a huge sigh of relief as CMC will not go on injured reserve. The star running back was selected high in many fantasy drafts and started off the season on a good foot.

McCaffrey has 201 rushing on 51 carries and a touchdown, along with 16 receptions for 163 yards. In Thursday’s night against the Texans, the former Stanford standout had 31 rushing yards on carries and two receptions for nine yards. With McCaffrey out for a little bit of time, rookie running back Chuba Hubbard becomes a hot name on the waiver wire. The rook out of Oklahoma State was solid in relief of McCaffrey, rushing for a game-high 52 yards on 11 carries and added three receptions (five targets) for 27 yards. He scored 10.9 fantasy points in Week 3 and only rostered in 11.3% of ESPN fantasy leagues.