There was only one fictional (before Thursday night, anyway) dream scenario where the hardened football cynic in all of us could have been roused by the idea of a running back trade before the deadline. In our wildest imagination, if a team could manage to pry Christian McCaffrey from the Panthers’ fire sale and place him into the capable arms of the best-designed and most potentially dangerous running game on planet earth (the 49ers), we’d allow our jaws to hit the floor.
Most of the football world awoke Friday—those who didn’t make it to the end of Thursday Night Football, at least—to learn that was no longer a dream. And most NFL teams not in Santa Clara might have called it a nightmare.
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