Christian McCaffrey is active for Week 9 vs. Patriots

The Carolina Panthers announced Week 9 inactives and Christian McCaffrey is officially active for their matchup against the Patriots. McCaffrey was listed as questionable this week as he recovered from a stint on injured reserve. The Panthers activated him off IR but because he was still being designated for return, there’s no clear indication of how much he practiced during the week.

McCaffrey was trending towards being designated as active for this week, with the Panthers waiting until Saturday to activate him so they could keep the practice report under wraps. This classic gamesmanship move from head coach Matt Rhule signaled McCaffrey would likely be active. The Patriots are likely already prepared for this, as Bill Belichick is the king of these maneuvers. The big winners here are McCaffrey fantasy managers, who will get likely their best player on the fantasy roster back for a pivotal contest. Let’s see what type of workload the star running back has in his return.