Kyle Shanahan and Christian McCaffrey spoke highly of Jordan Mason, who is battling for the RB2 job with Elijah Mitchell
We are still early in training camp. It’s July. The San Francisco 49ers held out several prominent players during their first padded practice on Monday.
A door opens when players like Christian McCaffrey, Nick Bosa, and Trent Williams have their scheduled rest days. There’s a legitimate race for the spot behind McCaffrey between Elijah Mitchell and Jordan Mason. Heading into the season during the past couple of seasons, we could pencil in Mitchell as RB2. But the tide is changing, and Mason is taking full advantage of his opportunities.
Here’s what McCaffrey said about Mason late last week after practice:
“He’s improved so much from the first time that I’ve met him. Just the way he is in the meetings, the way he is out at practice. He looks way more complete than he has been. He’s always been able to do it, it’s just being consistent with it. I think you see now he’s just making things happen in the run game and the pass game that are just consistent with him.”
Last year, McCaffrey called Mason Mariano Rivera—the greatest closer of all time. But he said now Mason can pitch every inning.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan has liked what he’s seen in both backs so far, but it’s difficult to ignore what Shanahan said about Mason:
“I’d say, nothing against Elijah, there’s been no fall off in Elijah at all, but [RB Jordan Mason] JP runs at a very high level. I see in both of those guys, that if [RB] Christian [McCaffrey] is not in there, not going, I mean we always expect no matter who we’ve had in the past, that number two, number three, sometimes our fourth guy comes in. And if their number is called, we expect them to run like a starting back and just how many reps did they get at it, how long did they last at things like that. JP wasn’t there right away, but he got there pretty quick. He did a hell of a job for us last year. We’ll see how camp plays out. But I love both of those guys and got some depth behind them too.”
JP has been a fan favorite since the moment he was drafted. He’s fast, powerful, and has the traits you want at the position. That’s not untrue for Mitchell, either. The difference is one stays healthy.