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Will the 49ers Re-Sign Running Back Jordan Mason?

It's hard to say where the 49ers would be right now if they didn't have Mason.

Grant Cohn

October 20, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Jordan Mason (24) runs the football against the Kansas City Chiefs during the third quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
October 20, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Jordan Mason (24) runs the football against the Kansas City Chiefs during the third quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
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Say goodbye to Jordan Mason?

One of the most underrated players on the 49ers could be on his way out of town this offseason. Jordan Mason, the fourth-leading rusher in the NFL, will be a restricted free agent this offseason. And the 49ers may not be able to afford him.

Mason has proven that he's one of the top running backs in the NFL, but he won't start for the 49ers as long as they have Christian McCaffrey, who could make his return from bilateral Achilles tendonitis this Sunday. Plus the 49ers have backup running back Isaac Guerendo who's under contract through 2027.

Which means Mason could be the odd man out. And that's partially because he could be one of the top running backs on the market despite being a restricted free agent. He's only 25 and has carried the ball just 217 times in his career, so he's young and fresh.

The 49ers most likely will place a second-round tender on Mason this offseason. So any team that wants to sign him would have to send the 49ers their second-round draft pick and then pay Mason $5.2 million next season. That's a reasonable price for a Pro Bowl-caliber running back who hasn't hit his prime yet. So even though the 49ers could lose a valuable player, they also could get a high draft pick for him.

It's hard to say where the 49ers would be right now if they didn't have Mason. When McCaffrey went down unexpectedly before Week 1, Mason was the only running back on the roster who was capable of carrying the load at the time. Without him, the 49ers probably would have a losing record.

His future is bright.

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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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