Christian McCaffrey has now missed a full week of practice with no clarity on what's actually wrong or when he'll return, and a second source indicates this stretched into another week beyond that. That combination — extended absence plus zero official update — is the kind of preseason red flag that should give you real pause heading into draft season. When a player of McCaffrey's caliber is sidelined without an explanation, it's rarely nothing, even if the team isn't confirming specifics yet.

For draft prep, this pushes McCaffrey from a locked-in top-of-the-board pick toward a name you need to monitor closely before you finalize your board. His talent and touch volume when healthy remain elite, so you shouldn't drop him entirely off your rankings, but you also can't draft him with the same confidence as a workhorse back with a clean summer. If you're picking early and he's still available at a value that reflects some risk, he can still be worth the swing given his ceiling — but if you're forced to take him at a true RB1 price with this cloud hanging over him, that's a spot to consider pivoting to a safer, fully-healthy option instead.

Confidence here is mixed: the first report of a missed week carries full confidence, but the follow-up on a second missed week comes in at only moderate confidence and explicitly flags the fantasy impact as uncertain. Treat this as a developing situation rather than a settled one — revisit his ADP and injury reports again closer to your draft date before locking in his spot on your board.