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Why the 49ers Need to be Careful with Jordan Mason on a Short Week

Don't wear down Mason after wearing down Christian McCaffrey and Elijah Mitchell.

Grant Cohn

Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Jordan Mason (24) carries the ball against the New York Jets during the first quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Jordan Mason (24) carries the ball against the New York Jets during the first quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
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Jordan Mason seems indestructable.

The 49ers gave him 28 carries on Monday night and he never seemed to get tired. He ran over defenders all game. And he needed to because Christian McCaffrey didn't play -- he has Achilles tendonitis. And Elijah Mitchell is on the Injured Reserve List. So Kyle Shanahan leaned on Mason and Mason came through.

Now Shanahan needs to be mindful of how he uses Mason Week 2 on the road against the Minnesota Vikings.

Once again, McCaffrey is unlikely to play Week 2. Meanwhile, Mason is young and he has fresh legs, but he still must feel extremely sore right now. He doesn't exactly shy away from contact -- he initiates it. Over and over and over and over and over again.

Now the 49ers have to fly across the country and play on a short week. It would not be wise to give Mason more than 25 touches again with such a short turnaround. They need to preserve him for the long season. He's important to their Super Bowl run.

So they should use two running backs. And no, Deebo Samuel is not a running back. He is a wide receiver. The plays in which he lines up in the backfield as a running back rarely work anymore. They haven't worked since Mike McDaniel left the 49ers to become the Miami Dolphins head coach. Maybe he was the brains behind those plays.

Just a few months ago, the 49ers traded up in Round 4 to take running back Isaac Guerendo. They could use him on Sunday against the Vikings. Or they could use veteran running back Patrick Taylor Jr.

Pick one. Or use both. Just don't wear down Mason after wearing down McCaffrey and Elijah Mitchell.

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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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