Story byBilly HeyenMon, December 29, 2025 at 2:47 AM UTC·1 min read49ers' Christian McCaffrey's PFF rank confuses NFL fans everywhere originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here. One of the things NFL fans often notice on Sunday Night Football broadcasts is the PFF ranks shown beneath each player during introductions. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThat's where a given player is slotted at his position by the Pro Football Focus rating system. Sometimes, the rank is very odd. Like in Week 17, when San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey showed as No. 18 out of 60 ranked running backs. Definitely confusing:MORE: Deion Sanders' reaction to Shedeur's terrible interception tells the whole storyThese ratings have come under fire in recent seasons for having bizarre situations like this. Clearly, they're using certain algorithms that don't always spit out the perfect information. It likely makes sense why CMC is ranked that way if you actually look at the math.
