Eight-Year-Old Christian McCaffrey Is Lucky He Turned Into An MVP Candidate Otherwise Throwing A Signed Ball Into The Crowd After Juking Out A Mascot Would Have Been The Cringiest Move Ever

San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey is having an incredible year. I should know, he's almost single-handily responsible for me entering the OutKick Staff Fantasy Football League (OSFFL) post-season as the top seed.

Why, just this week, I nearly made a costly gaffe by forgetting to bench wideout Keenan Allen who was hurt and also plays for the dumpster fire that is the Los Angeles Chargers. That could have meant a loss, had McCaffrey not said, "I got you, bro. Here's 41 points."

What a guy,

And he's lucky he's stringing together an MVP-caliber campaign, otherwise something he did when was 8 years old could have made him look like a real douche.

McCaffrey Breaking Mascot Ankles And His Autograph Celebration Resurfaced On Manningcast

McCaffrey was a guest on this week's Manningcast, making him the latest superstar to appear alongside the likes of a guitar-strumming Tua Tagavailoa and Arnold Schwarzenegger with a donkey. During his appearance, they showed a 20-year-old clip of an 8-year-old McCaffrey breaking some mascots' ankles during what appeared to be one of those halftime football games to entertain everyone not waiting in line for a beer or to pee.

Lil McCaffrey ran one straight to the house, then celebrated by signing the ball and lobbing it into the crowd for some lucky fan a la Terrell Owens.

You may have seen it before because it's been living on the internet for a few years. Every time I see it, I just think about how lucky he is to have gone on to become one of the NFL's premiere running backs.

If he went into any line of work, he'd feel like a total ass every time he thought about that.

I get that he was a kid trying to be funny. But that was a big celebration on a touchdown where the mascots clearly weren't trying like they do now.

Cringey Childhood Moments Like Keep All Of Us Awake At Night

We all have things we did as a kid that keep us awake at night.

For me, it was the time I was getting an autograph from ex-NHLer Kirby Law. I was around the same age McCaffrey was in that video and when I walked up to the then-Philadelphia Phantoms winger who greeted me by saying, "What's up buddy?"

For some reason, my dope kid brain decided it was joke time and came up with one of the lamest things ever uttered by a child.

"The sky and the clouds," I said. You see... because the sky and the clouds are "up."

*Cough*

Unfortunately, Kirby Law either didn't hear me, or thought he must have misheard because of how stupid that was, and said, "What was that?"

Instead of cutting bait, I doubled down: "The sky and the clouds.

He kind of gave an "Okay..." and signed my puck, and that moment continues to send a douche chill down my spine to this day.

The point is that had McCaffrey blown his knee out as a junior in high school and wound up working an office job, I assure you he'd be laying in bed at night and would all of a sudden get hit by a lightning bolt of douche from the time he celebrated like that.

Or maybe not. I don't know.

Maybe he'd still think it was badass.

Follow on X: @Matt_Reigle