Jordan Mason has a Chance to Prove the 49ers Right and Wrong
Jordan Mason is set to receive more playing time with Elijah Mitchell out.
Against the Saints with six minutes left to go, Mason got the call to take over the game. Christian McCaffrey could not ice it for the 49ers as he was dealing with knee irritation. It was on Mason to play the closer for the 49ers and he rose to occasion perfectly.
"We had two guys go down and he was ready for it," said Kyle Shanahan. "Putting him there at the end of the game when the game was still tight. There's six minutes and it was a 13-point game, a guy who hasn't been in that much, I'd like to not put that pressure on him. I'd like to keep our vets out there holding onto the ball, but our guys were a little banged up and so we put Mason in and I'm real glad we did. He held onto that ball great."
McCaffrey won't miss any time, so he will still remain the starter. Mason will take on the rotational role that belonged to Mitchell, meaning he could expect to see 8 to 12 carries per game. I expect Mason to look elusive and especially vicious as a runner. Shanahan has churned out undrafted running backs into studs before, which will demonstrate why the 49ers traded Jeff Wilson Jr.
Should Mason look sweet, then he has a chance to prove the 49ers right AND wrong.
How Mason would prove the 49ers right is if he is efficient in any manner when he is on offense. When the 49ers traded Wilson, it looked like a move that could come back to haunt them, which I believed initially and still do. Trading away Wilson given the history of 49ers running backs missing time to injury was a risky move. Sure enough, Mitchell will miss the regular season if not the whole year and McCaffrey has an irritated knee. Having Wilson sure would've been sweet.
This is where Mason can kill that narrative. All he needs to do is be solid. He doesn't have to be great. Just act as a good compliment to the offense. Anything else he provides that is a positive impact will make the 49ers look even better. I fully expect that to happen. Mason caught the eye of many in training camp and the preseason, myself included, but never saw any playing time on offense. It was head scratching considering how strong he looked.
You would think that Shanahan would've given him carries from time to time, but it never happened. This is where Mason can prove the 49ers wrong. If he does look good out there now that he is getting run, then the 49ers will look questionable as to why they did not play Mason early in the first place. When Mitchell went down in Week 1, it was strictly Wilson as the running back with a sprinkle of Ty Davis-Price. The running game was decent, but there was much left to be had. Giving Mason some carries to see what he could do would've been beneficial.
So if Mason goes out there against the Dolphins and plays well, then sustains that, Shanahan will look foolish for not running Mason earlier. At that point, you have to wonder if the McCaffrey trade ever would've went down if Mason had gotten snaps and looked solid in the beginning. I would guess that a trade would have gone down if that were the case.
Still, Shanahan will have no problem looking like a fool if Mason does look good because the 49ers need a complimentary player for McCaffrey. The last thing they need is for Mason to be a whiff, then start scrambling for someone such as Tevin Coleman to fill in. Davis-Price is sure to see opportunities as well, but the right move is to run Mason and see if he can pick up where he left off against the Saints.
