“It’s what you dream of": Christian McCaffrey not shy about his love for Denver

INDIANAPOLIS — All of his childhood memories are in Denver—from playing the piano with his neighbor Michael to one-on-one basketball with his brother and best friend, Max. Christian was a normal kid, in an abnormal family.

As a kid, he knew his dad’s friends by John, Terrell and Shannon. The rest of the world knew them as Colorado legends, and future Hall of Fame players, John Elway, Terrell Davis and Shannon Sharpe.

In the first 20 years of his life, he followed a similar path as both his parents—a multi-sport athlete from the peewee level, all the way through high school, to attending Stanford University to study and play sports.

Now, after three years at Stanford, Christian McCaffrey is looking to write his own story. If he comes back to Colorado, however, he will continue to follow in his father’s footsteps. His father, Ed McCaffrey, not only was a great Denver Broncos wide receiver for nine seasons, he was one of the most beloved players in franchise history for constantly putting his body in harm’s way for the good of the team.

However, with no disrespect to his dad, Christian believes his game is significantly different from his father’s, even though they may line up at the same position from time to time. In fact, he believes his style of play is different from everyone else in the country as well.

“I don’t think there’s anybody else that can do all of the things I can as far as run between the tackles, outside, pass protect, play X [receiver], Z [receiver], slot [receiver], do a bunch of stuff in the return game as well,” he said at the NFL Combine Thursday. “I think that’s what sets me apart.”

Officially listed as a running back, he is anything but limited to just one position. At Stanford, other than tight end and quarterback, McCaffrey played every skill position on the offensive side of the ball as well as returned kicks and punts. He did all of that at the highest level as he was named the Heisman Trophy runner-up in 2015.

“I pride myself on being extremely versatile. I feel like I can do that stuff,” he said. “To show coaches that I can play running back, I can play receiver; I can do all of the return game stuff is important to me…Wherever they put me. I’ll do anything a team needs me to do.”

To prepare for the NFL Draft in late April, Christian plans to show his versatile skill set by participating in the running back drills at the combine and the wide receiver drills at his pro day, which is slated for March 23. Before Broncos’ general manager, and Ed’s long-time friend, John Elway even sees how Christian performs, he already knows what type of player he will be at the next level.

“He’s a dynamic player that can do it all,” Elway said at the combine. “Wherever he goes he’s a guy that’s going to be an impact immediately.”

As it currently stands, just less than two months away from the draft, McCaffrey is slated to be a first-round pick. He is listed as the third-best running back on nearly every draft board behind Florida State’s Dalvin Cook and Leonard Fournette from LSU. While a first-round pick is highly impressive, that’s not good enough for Christian.

“I play with a chip on my shoulder always. I feel like a lot of people don’t give me credit for my skills and talents and that’s just the way it is,” he said. “I also don’t really care too much. I don’t feel like I’m crazy disrespected. I have a chip on my shoulder at all times, that’s been my whole life. I’m constantly trying to prove myself.”

However, if Christian wants to return home, a later first-round pick may be perfect as Denver currently has with the No. 20 overall pick. And while he would be grateful to play for any team, it would be extra special to play for not only his childhood team, but the team his dad ended his career with. Asked what it would mean to play for the Broncos, Christian responded, “It’s what you dream of as a kid.”

“That’d be awesome. That’d be great,” he said in regards to wearing orange and blue. “I would love to play there, but it’s kind of hard to be a fan anywhere now because you start to wind down things and you don’t know where you are going to end up. I’ll be happy to play with anybody.”

Although 31 other teams could spoil his return home, he did get to meet with the Broncos’ brass—including Elway, head coach Vance Joseph and offensive coordinator Mike McCoy—Wednesday night at the Combine.

“It was awesome. It was really cool,” he said about his meeting with the Broncos. “Those are the guys my dad played with, guys I have been around my whole entire life, so it was a really cool meeting.”

While his future destination won’t be known for many weeks, Christian will enjoy where he is at now.

“Enjoy it; it’s a once in a lifetime process. Everybody that I have talked to has told me to enjoy the process,” he said about going through the draft process. “Smile, be happy…this is such an amazing process, it’s a dream come true to even be here and I’m just blessed that I can come out here and compete.”

Whether or not the Broncos take him is still a mystery, but whatever team he ends up on it’s clear they will be receiving a fan favorite, just like his father. After being teammates 20 years ago, Elway could bring Ed’s kid home in what would most likely be the greatest homecoming in Colorado sports since Chauncey Billups returned to the Nuggets in 2008.

One thing that is certain is that Christian won’t be a hard kid to root for.