After the 49ers traded for running back Christian McCaffrey from the Carolina Panthers late Thursday night, San Francisco's new weapon showed up at practice in Santa Clara wearing his new number.
McCaffrey used to wear number 22 with the Panthers and number 5 with the Stanford Cardinals in college. Both of those numbers were taken by running back Jeff Wilson Jr. and quarterback Trey Lance. Marlon Mack, a veteran running back, moved to number 36, giving McCaffrey the number 23.
It's still not clear what 23 means, but Matt Barrows of The Athletic, who may have been joking, said that when you add the two numbers together, you get McCaffrey's college number.
Both of Christian McCaffrey's college and NFL jersey numbers were taken when he was traded to the 49ers from the Carolina Panthers. The trade was made official on Friday.
The first-round pick from 2017's new team's jersey number was a hot topic of conversation in the hours after news of the trade broke. Running back Jeff Wilson Jr. wears the number 22, and quarterback Trey Lance wears the number 5.
McCaffrey wore No. 23 when he put on his gear to hang out on the practice field on Friday. The last time that number was worn by RB JaMycal Hasty was in 2020 and 2021.
We don't know if that will be his number for the rest of his career, but he'll probably wear the number 23 this season.