Former Duke Receiver Max McCaffrey Talks Family Legacy
By Chris Brown
Recent Duke graduate Max McCaffrey talks with ESPN about signing as an undrafted free agent with his father’s old rival team.
Former Duke Football wide receiver Max McCaffrey had an excellent career with the Blue Devils and played a key role in helping the program win their first postseason bowl game since 1961. After going undrafted in the 2016 NFL Draft, McCaffrey signed a rookie free agent deal with the Oakland Raiders to compete for a spot on the roster.
Next: Eight Blue Devils Join NFL as Rookie Free Agents
The only problem is that his father, Ed McCaffrey, was a star wide receiver in the NFL with the Denver Broncos which are rivals with the Raiders. Max McCaffrey recently completed an interview with ESPN to talk about signing with his father’s rival team and how he hopes to make a name for himself in the NFL.
Max McCaffrey is often overshadowed by his father’s and younger brothers’ football careers. Ed McCaffrey had a stellar 13-year professional football career as a Pro Bowl wide receiver who was able to win three Super Bowls with the Broncos in 1995, 1998, and 1999.
His younger brother, Christian, has also become well-known after finishing as a finalist for the Heisman Trophy last year as a running back at Stanford leading the nation in total yards accounted for and is one of the favorites to win the award this coming season. The youngest McCaffrey brother, Dylan, is a highly recruited 4-star quarterback heading into his senior year of high school who has committed to join the University of Michigan in 2017.
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One thing that will help McCaffrey make an NFL roster this offseason is his speed and his work ethic. He’s somewhat small for an NFL wide receiver at 6-2 and 200 pounds, but finished the 40-yard dash in 4.36 seconds at Duke’s pro day- a time fast enough to be the second fastest time among everyone at the NFL combine, but McCaffrey was not invited to the event. He is already impressing players and coaches with the Raiders, with quarterback Derek Carr saying, “McCaffrey is a high-effort, high-motor guy all the time. Whether it’s walk-through, whether it’s real reps, high motor all the time.”
At Duke, McCaffrey compiled 117 catches for 1,341 yards and 12 touchdowns for his career, including 52 receptions for 643 yards and 5 TDs as a senior last season. He’s considered a long-shot to make the roster for the Raiders, who are already deep at the wide receiver position, but Max McCaffrey will continue to compete and train throughout the summer noting, ““I just have to come out here with the mentality that today’s the day. Today’s the last day I might ever play.”
Make sure to check out the rest of the ESPN article on the Duke product here and best of luck to former Blue Devil Max McCaffrey as he pursues a professional football career in the NFL.