McCaffrey sits, Mason stars for dominant 49ers

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — For the previous two-plus seasons, Jordan Mason has at all times regarded the a part of a beginning operating again. He simply hadn’t been in a position to play it till Monday night time.

The wait may need been longer than Mason wished and are available about underneath less-than-ideal circumstances — changing an injured Christian McCaffrey — however it was clear within the season opener that Mason was greater than prepared for the job as he and the Niners battered the New York Jets on the bottom in a 32-19 victory.

“I have been working all of coaching camp for this second and I am blessed to have the ability to get to play right this moment and present it,” Mason stated.

By the point Mason was executed, he’d set profession highs with 28 carries for 147 yards. He added a speeding rating and caught a go for five extra yards. After the win, some had been left questioning when the Niners knew McCaffrey could be out and Mason could be in.

In an on-field interview with ESPN’s Lisa Salters, Mason advised that he discovered “possibly Friday night time” that he might be in line for the beginning. Coach Kyle Shanahan provided that no choice was made on Friday and nothing was determined till Monday.

Regardless, Mason’s begin got here as a shock after McCaffrey was introduced as an inactive 90 minutes earlier than Monday night time’s recreation due to lingering calf and Achilles accidents. In the course of the week, McCaffrey participated in all 4 Niners practices on a restricted foundation and was formally listed as questionable on Saturday’s closing harm report.

Regardless of all of that, the expectation for McCaffrey was that he could be able to roll. McCaffrey stated Friday afternoon he had no doubts that he would play in opposition to the Jets and expressed hope he’d be in line for his ordinary heavy workload.

After the sport, Shanahan stated that “it was somewhat an excessive amount of right this moment” for McCaffrey to have the ability to play, noting that San Francisco “thought it was going to be good to maintain him out.” Shanahan added that McCaffrey didn’t have a setback in apply.

“It was on and off all through the week,” Shanahan stated. “He was in a position to apply all through the week, simply it was at all times bothering him to a level. Generally it goes away. Generally it comes again. In the present day, it was bothering him somewhat an excessive amount of the place he did not be ok with it.”

McCaffrey’s harm mixed with the season-ending hamstring harm to Elijah Mitchell in coaching camp opened the door for Mason to ascend the depth chart, a chance he rapidly claimed with a powerful camp that doubtless would have boosted him previous Mitchell anyway.

Mason’s coaching camp efficiency left the Niners assured that he was able to step in and produce regardless of by no means having greater than 11 carries, 69 yards or 27 offensive snaps in an NFL recreation earlier than Monday night time.

His 28 carries had been essentially the most in a daily season recreation by a Niner since Shanahan took over in 2017 and essentially the most in a 49ers season opener in franchise historical past. His 147 had been the fourth-most speeding yards in a season opener by an undrafted participant all time and the second most by an undrafted participant on Monday Night time Soccer.

That manufacturing was no shock to these within the Niners locker room who’ve seen Mason develop from 2022 undrafted free agent out of Georgia Tech right into a participant who averaged 5.6 yards per carry in his earlier 33 NFL video games.

“Each time he touched the ball, in my recollection, he regarded like that,” left sort out Trent Williams stated. “He regarded like that tonight. … I am positive he is grown up during the last couple years, however it’s not like I may see a obvious gap and he matured. He got here in fairly mature and he was at all times prepared for his alternative. Even being third, fourth again, he was at all times prepared and he got here in, closed lots of video games for us and ran powerful and he earned everyone’s respect.”

A lot of Mason’s teammates, together with receiver Deebo Samuel Sr. and fullback Kyle Juszczyk stated they discovered Friday that Mason could be beginning for McCaffrey. Shanahan stated he and different coaches had advised Mason all through the week that he may need an even bigger position and to be prepared for it however he did not inform him he was beginning for positive till Monday afternoon.

“We discovered he wasn’t taking part in right this moment and we do not know the way he will really feel tomorrow or the subsequent day,” Shanahan stated. “I believed he was taking part in this entire week till right this moment.”

Relying on how the remainder of this week goes for McCaffrey, there may be no such thriller because the Niners put together for a visit to play the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. San Francisco’s subsequent two video games are on synthetic floor, which might be a deterrent to having McCaffrey return straight away.

Shanahan stated it is too early to make any declarations on that now as McCaffrey will once more be monitored because the week goes on.

“I am going to ask the participant how he is feeling,” Shanahan stated. “In the event that they really feel good and so they’re able to go, they’re able to go. If they are saying I really feel good on grass however not on turf, that is normally a manner of claiming that you do not actually really feel that good. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow. See the subsequent day and we’ll see how he feels on Sunday.”

And if the Niners have to return to Mason, there shall be no hesitation given what he did Monday night time.

“I believed he runs like he at all times does,” Shanahan stated. “Whenever you get him the ball, he breaks tackles normally will get greater than we block for. After we had the nice lanes, he at all times hit them and we bought a bunch, however JP was superior right this moment.”