49ers RB Christian McCaffrey Says Jordan Mason is a Complete Running Back

High praise from the reigning Offensive Player of the Year.

Dec 17, 2023; Glendale, Arizona, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Jordan Mason (24) against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports / Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

SANTA CLARA -- The most improved player on the 49ers through two days of training camp is Jordan Mason.

He always has been a tough, efficient, downhill runner. He's averaging 5.6 yards per carry on 83 career attempts. But the 49ers still didn't play him much the first two seasons of his career because the rest of his game was underdeveloped.

Now, he has become a lethal weapon in the passing game, and Christian McCaffrey has noticed.

"He has improved so much since the first time I met him," McCaffrey said on Wednesday. "Just the way he is in the meetings, the way he is out at practice."

"You used to call him Mariano Rivera because he was the closer," I said. "Has he become a more complete running back?

"Yeah, he looks way more complete than he has been," said McCaffrey. "He always has been able to do it, it's just being consistent with it. I think you see now he's making things happen in the pass game and the run game that are just consistent. I think he can pitch every inning now."

High praise from the reigning Offensive Player of the Year.

Of course, if McCaffrey stays healthy, Mason will continue to play sparingly. But he could leapfrog Elijah Mitchell as McCaffrey's primary backup. Mitchell has held that role for the past two seasons because he's dependable and never fumbles, but he offers zilch as a receiver. And McCaffrey's backup ideally should be a good receiver because so much of the 49ers passing offense is designed around the running back.

So if McCaffrey were to go down and miss an extended period of time, the 49ers would be okay, because Mason is a starting-caliber running back, too.