How Mason beat out two third-round picks from the 49ers for a backup role originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SANTA CLARA — Jordan Mason had a tough road ahead of him as he signed with the 49ers as an undrafted rookie in 2022.
San Francisco had invested third-round picks in players at his position in two consecutive drafts at the time.
Two years later, Mason is still there and producing on a large scale.
“Once the backs get here, we really don’t care,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said. “We see them running in practice, and where they’re drafted or what their name is on their jersey, we really don’t care.”
That’s why the 49ers didn’t hesitate to pass on third-round picks Trey Sermon and Ty Davis-Price and put Mason in a reserve role.
Sermon, on his third NFL team, is now a reserve with the Indianapolis Colts. Davis-Price is on the practice squad with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Mason, a third-year player, earned his first NFL starting assignment Monday night, rushing for a career-high 147 yards and one touchdown on 28 rushing attempts in the 49ers’ 32-19 win over the New York Jets in the season opener on Monday night.
“We’ve been committed to running the ball for a while now,” Shanahan said. “There’s a lot of styles that can be successful running the ball, but you’ve got to be able to do it a certain way and not mess with us.
“And once he got here, he hit the hole every time.”
Shanahan said Mason is also easy to coach. There were times when he was so focused on hitting the hole fast that he missed opportunities to bounce out.
Mason gained a better understanding of the big picture, Shanahan said, while still being able to retain his natural talent for running the ball.
Shanahan admits he didn’t know much about Mason since he entered the 2021 NFL Draft out of Georgia Tech. He wasn’t invited to the NFL Scouting Combine.
After all, Mason’s last two college seasons were about half as productive as his first two. That’s because highly touted running back Jahmyr Gibbs came on the scene in 2020. After transferring to Alabama in 2022, Gibbs was drafted No. 12 overall by the Detroit Lions in 2023.
Area scout Warren Ball is credited with bringing Mason to the attention of the 49ers’ personnel department and coaching staff.
Shanahan admits he was skeptical about the team’s interest in a reserve college running back until he heard Gibbs was in front of him.
“He wasn’t a guy we really had high on as a draftable guy,” Shanahan said of Mason. “All of our coaches and scouts were looking at a number of guys that were potential free agents, and he was at the top of our list.”
After earning a spot on the 49ers’ third running back in his first two seasons, Mason moved up the roster this summer.
He took all the first-team reps in practice because of injuries to Christian McCaffrey and Elijah Mitchell. Mitchell went on the season-ending injury list with a hamstring injury late in training camp. And Mason got the call-up on opening night when McCaffrey was ruled out with Achilles tendonitis.
Wide receiver Deebo Samuel effectively became the backup running back. He had eight carries for 23 yards and a touchdown.
But the night belonged to Mason.
His 28 rushing attempts were the most by a 49ers running back in Shanahan’s eight seasons with the team. It was the most carries by a 49ers running back since Frank Gore had 31 carries against Cleveland on Oct. 30, 2011.
“This was the first time he got some carries,” Shanahan said. “It’s tough to get those in our offense when you have guys like Christian and guys like Deebo and stuff like that.
“But this was his chance and everyone saw how he did it, so it was much easier to just keep feeding him the rock.”
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