CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey on Sunday joined Roger Craig and Marshall Faulk as the only players to have 1,000 yards rushing and receiving in the same season.
McCaffrey came into the season finale against the New Orleans Saints needing 67 yards receiving to reach the milestone, first achieved by Craig in 1985 and later by Faulk in 1999.
He took care of that with a 17-yard catch late in the third quarter to give him exactly 67 yards. He finished the game with seven catches for 72 yards, bringing his season total to 1,005 receiving yards.
"Christian is the coolest kid on the planet," Craig told ESPN. "It's his time."
McCaffrey said a lot of people are responsible for helping him join Craig and Faulk, from his parents to his teammates.
"At the end of the day, I think we learned as a Panthers organization, as a team ... that the most important stat is winning,'' McCaffrey said after the Panthers lost to the Saints 42-10 to finish the season 5-11. "We didn't get that done this year. The individual statistics -- obviously they're great and cool and will be stuff you can look back on when you're done and be proud of yourself.
"But we would love to get this thing fixed and fixed quick.''
Craig predicted during the offseason when he ran into McCaffrey in San Francisco for a showing of the Broadway hit "Hamilton" that the eighth pick of the 2017 draft would join the exclusive club. He said it was in McCaffrey's DNA.
"For him to catch over 100 passes is so impressive as well," Craig said of McCaffrey, who last week broke his NFL single-season record for catches by a running back when he got to 109, two more than he had last season. "And Christian is the most humble person that you ever want to meet. He was taught this from his father."
Former NFL wide receiver Ed McCaffrey and his wife, Lisa, were among many of McCaffrey's family members and friends at Bank of America Stadium to witness the milestone.
The Panthers honored McCaffrey's feat with a tribute on the two video boards.
McCaffrey, 23, easily topped 1,000 yards rushing, surpassing the mark in a Week 11 loss to Atlanta. He put himself in position to reach 1,000 yards receiving last week at Indianapolis with 15 catches for 119 yards.
He is just the fourth running back since the AFL-NFL merger to have a 1,000-yard-receiving season, joining Faulk, Craig and Lionel "Little Train" James.
McCaffrey said every year he writes down goals, and getting 1,000 yards receiving and rushing "was one of them.''
"Once again, I can't reiterate this enough, the most important stat is winning,'' McCaffrey said.
Interim Panthers coach Perry Fewell said he and the organization definitely wanted McCaffrey to get the record.
"Christian is such a special player,'' Fewell said.
Middle linebacker Luke Kuechly agreed.
"Not a lot of people do what he does,'' Kuechly said. "I know the season didn't go the way he wanted it to. You can still take away from the fact that Christian had a special year, and special years like that always deserve to be recognized.''