Coach Ron Rivera said Wednesday that he hopes to have McCaffrey play fewer snaps in 2019 but still receive more total touches than he earned a season ago, David Newton of ESPN.com reports. "We want the ball in Christian's hands,'' Rivera said. "When he's on the field, there's no reason for him to be a decoy or swing guy. Why not figure out the best thing, and that's what [offensive coordinator Norv Turner] wants to do."
McCaffrey was on the field for 91.3 percent of the Panthers' offensive snaps last season, leading all running backs by a comfortable margin. That heightened involvement helped him amass 326 touches and 1,965 scrimmage yards en route to a second-team All-Pro selection. While Turner -- who doled out heavy workloads to Emmitt Smith and LaDainian Tomlinson in the past -- aims to get McCaffrey's hands on the ball even more this term, he and Rivera have acknowledged a plan to pluck unnecessary snaps from the tailback's weekly count. If all goes well, that initiative would improve the efficiency of McCaffrey's usage while ideally strengthening his overall impact in a given game.