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The Best Comparison for 49ers Running Back Jordan Mason

Through four games, Mason is averaging 111.2 yards per game and 4.9 yards per carry.

Grant Cohn

Sep 22, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Jordan Mason (24) runs the ball against Los Angeles Rams cornerback Tre'Davious White (27) during the first half at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images
Sep 22, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Jordan Mason (24) runs the ball against Los Angeles Rams cornerback Tre'Davious White (27) during the first half at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images / Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images
In this story:

Jordan Mason is the best story in the NFL this season.

Last season, he was the 49ers' third-string running back. Now, he's their starter and the NFL's second-leading rusher. And he could remain their starter for quite a while if Christian McCaffrey never makes a full recovery from bilateral Achilles tendonitis.

Keep in mind, Mason was an undrafted free agent in 2022. No one saw this season coming for him. Not even the 49ers. So now, people are trying to make sense of Mason's rapid ascension by comparing him to successful running backs from the past.

Recently, NFL film guru Greg Cosell compared Mason to former Dallas Cowboys running back Marion Barber, who was a violent runner similar to Mason. Solid comparison. But Barber never rushed for 1,000 yards in a season. Mason currently is on pace to rush for 1,900 yards this season.

A better comparison for Mason in terms of production in this particular outside-zone blocking scheme is former Houston Texans running back Arian Foster. Like Mason, Foster was an undrafted free agent who didn't play right away. But in his first full season as a starter, he rushed for 101 yards per game and 4.9 yards per carry and was first-team All Pro.

Through four games, Mason is averaging 111.2 yards per game and 4.9 yards per carry. He's having an Arian-Foster-esque season. Which means Mason could be an All Pro if he stays healthy and remains the starter all season.

What a story.

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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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