Kyle Shanahan Clarifies When He Told Jordan Mason He'd Start Over Christian McCaffrey

Mason said in a postgame interview that he was told he'd be starting on Friday. Shanahan had a different recollection of things.

Shanahan watches warm ups before the game against the New Orleans Saints at Levi's Stadium. / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

The San Francisco 49ers took down the New York Jets on Monday Night Football with backup running back Jordan Mason drawing his first career start in place of the injured Christian McCaffrey.

After the game, Mason told ESPN's Lisa Salters that he knew as early as Friday that he'd be starting the game, despite the team not officially announcing McCaffrey's absence until a few hours before kickoff.

Asked about that admission, Kyle Shanahan denied telling Mason that he would be starting on Friday and attempted to clear the air. The 49ers' head coach told reporters that he didn't tell Mason until Monday that he was the starting running back for the season opener, but did suggest to him earlier that he could be in line for a large workload with McCaffrey not at 100%.

"I never told Jordan he was going to start. I told him he had to be ready a bunch, but that might've been [Robert Turner Jr.] or somebody trying to pump him up. I knew he was going to have to play a lot, told him that it wasn't going to be like usual. He was going to be a No. 2 back that was splitting a lot of the time, but he didn't know for sure he was doing that until today," Shanahan explained.

#49ers HC Kyle Shanahan says he didn’t tell Jordan Mason on Friday that Mason would be starting tonight https://t.co/E6EkXB8rh6 pic.twitter.com/S0dXr7iT8N

— The Coachspeak Index (@CoachspeakIndex) September 10, 2024

When asked if McCaffrey suffered a setback on Friday, Shanahan said that the calf injury was "on and off throughout the week" but it bothered the running back too much on Monday to let him play.

Many fans voiced their frustrations over the lack of transparency from the 49ers after Mason's admission. McCaffrey's absence had a significant impact on both fantasy football and sports betting, and the late announcement that he wouldn't be suiting up for the game came as a major surprise.

Shanahan tried to clarify that he never explicitly told Mason he'd be starting until earlier on Monday, though that differed from when the 25-year-old said he was made aware of the situation.

---

More of the Latest Around the NFL

feed