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Why the 49ers Won't Give Jordan Mason the Ball

"Why would (trust) be the issue?"
Grant Cohn|
Why the 49ers Won't Give Jordan Mason the Ball
Why the 49ers Won't Give Jordan Mason the Ball

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San Francisco 49ers

SANTA CLARA -- Jordan Mason is averaging 5.6 yards per carry, and yet the 49ers haven't given him the ball in the past three games. Meanwhile, Elijah Mitchell is averaging just 2.4 yards per carry, and has gotten 12 carries in the past three games, including eight last week.

Something doesn't add up.

On Friday, I asked Shanahan what Mason has to do to get back in the mix and earn his trust. Shanahan didn't appreciate the question.

SHANAHAN: "Why would (trust) be the issue?"

ME: I don't know. I guess it's confusing for a running back who's so efficient to fall out of the mix. I'm wondering what he would need to do to get back in it."

SHANAHAN: "The two guys in front of him would have to get hurt. There are three of them. You're implying I don't trust him or something. That's what I heard in the question, so I'm trying to figure out exactly what your question is. Why is he the third running back?"

ME: Yeah. Why would you give Mitchell the carries over Mason when Mitchell is averaging 2.4 yards per carry?

SHANAHAN: "We look at more than stats. Mitchell is our No. 2 back and has done some pretty good things here. Jordan is our No. 3. He's been our No. 2 at times. That's how most cases are in the NFL."

TRANSLATION: Mitchell is the No. 2 running back because he used to be good, while Mason is the No. 3 running back even though he is good because Shanahan has a nostalgic allegiance to Mitchell. How confusing.

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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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