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Chris Foerster on 49ers RB Jordan Mason: "He's Really Taken Off."

"It's really exciting to see."

Grant Cohn

Jan 7, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Jordan Mason (24) carries the ball against Los Angeles Rams linebackers Christian Rozeboom (left) and Troy Reeder (59) during the second quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 7, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Jordan Mason (24) carries the ball against Los Angeles Rams linebackers Christian Rozeboom (left) and Troy Reeder (59) during the second quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports / Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports
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The most improved player on the 49ers through three days of training camp arguably is backup running back Jordan Mason.

The third-year pro looks like a young Marshawn Lynch on the practice field, and he has taken incredible strides as a route runner and a receiver. And his teammates and coaches have noticed.

Here's what offensive line coach/run game coordinator Chris Foerster said about Mason on Friday, courtesy of the 49ers p.r. department.

Q: RB Christian McCaffrey said yesterday that RB Jordan Mason has improved a ton since Christian first got here. We've always seen that Jordan's a good ball carrier, but there's so much more to playing running back. Where have you seen the improvements with Jordan?

FOERSTER: “Yeah, all of the above. He's become a better ball carrier. He was just such a hard running, strong, physical, tough guy that he gained yards, sheer-willed himself in the yards. Now, he's understanding the playbook better. [Running backs coach] Bobby Turner coming back into the building has been, not that anything was wrong with [former assistant head coach/running backs] Anthony Lynn, it's just that he and the two guys have clicked, so that's really helped. And then he's just matured as a player. He’s had a chance to run more routes. He's had a chance to watch Christian run routes. It's a huge benefit to not only be coached well, but to have a guy that's premier at doing it and go like, ‘Oh, I can see how that's done a little bit better. And it's a guy that I'm right here with, and I know the guy.’ So it's helped him in every facet. He's really taken off. It's really exciting to see.”

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Grant Cohn

GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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