SANTA CLARA, Calif. — When the San Francisco 49ers went into their Nov. 3 bye, Jordan Mason was the NFL’s third leading rusher with 685 yards.
Two weeks later, he’s fallen to 12th place. Injuries? He was still nursing a shoulder sprain as the 49ers emerged from the bye but has not been listed on the practice report for the last week. A far bigger impediment for the tough-running tailback sits on the other side of the locker room and wears No. 23.
Christian McCaffrey has been gobbling up the 49ers’ snaps and carries since returning from a two-month absence. During Sunday’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks, for example, Mason entered midway through a long, first quarter drive. He picked up 8 yards on a first-down carry, then gained another 5 on second down.
Then he went to the sideline and didn’t appear on offense from that point on. McCaffrey played all but four offensive snaps and got all but two of the running back carries. Over the last two weeks, only two NFL tailbacks — the Cincinnati Bengals’ Chase Brown (149) and the Indianapolis Colts’ Jonathan Taylor (116) — have logged more snaps than McCaffrey (115).
That he quickly regained his role as the 49ers’ lead runner makes sense. McCaffrey was a scoring machine in the red zone a year ago and he is by far their best option out of the backfield. He has as many receptions — 10 — in two games as Mason’s had all season.
The degree to which he’s taken over, however, has been surprising.
For one, McCaffrey is recovering from bilateral Achilles tendonitis, an issue he had trouble shaking in training camp. He received a huge workload last season as well, though both he and Shanahan have said they don’t think the running back’s 2023 usage was related to the Achilles issue.
“I don’t believe that. I don’t think he believes that,” Shanahan said this month. “I think things happen to a body. I think they happen in the offseason, but I don’t think that really has to do with numbers (from the season before). When a guy is healthy and good, they’re usually good.”
Though the 49ers haven’t eased McCaffrey’s game-day usage, they have altered his practice schedule. He was limited for two of the three practices last week; he didn’t practice at all Wednesday to give him additional rest.
Secondly, the 49ers have a more-than-capable backup in Mason, who helped keep the 49ers afloat during McCaffrey’s absence. Now he’s not only been relinquished to the occasional-snap role he was in last season, he’s sharing those snaps with rookie Issac Guerendo, whom the 49ers want to develop.
“I’d like all those guys playing,” Shanahan said. “But it depends on the situation, depends how many times you’re getting the ball, it depends on the drives, it depends if we’re going to put two backs out there. When you do two backs, then you’ve got to take either a big off or another receiver. But I’m not always thinking of how to get Christian off.”
Shanahan and his longtime running backs coach, Bobby Turner, never have liked to spread the carries around, especially when they have an elite runner in their backfield. Denver Broncos tailbacks like Terrell Davis, Olandis Gary and Mike Anderson didn’t do much sharing when Turner was the running backs coach for Mike Shanahan in the late 1990s and early 2000s. When the group was in Washington in 2012, Alfred Morris got 335 carries. Every other tailback on the team combined for 25.
Asked about that philosophy on Wednesday, Shanahan noted that the 49ers toggled among Matt Breida, Raheem Mostert and Tevin Coleman the first four seasons he and Turner were in San Francisco.
“Since Christian’s been here, I think it’s the only time we’ve had one guy,” he said. “And I think that’s for obvious reasons.”
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Odds and ends
• Brock Purdy (throwing shoulder) was limited in Wednesday’s practice and did not attempt any throws during the 20-minute portion at the beginning that is open to reporters. Purdy went through the same motions as the other three quarterbacks but did not release the ball.
No throwing for Brock Purdy (right shoulder) early in today’s practice — just mental and movement reps. pic.twitter.com/6Lsb5TnaA5
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) November 20, 2024
Shanahan said Purdy was hurt on a hit on Sunday but wasn’t sure which one. Purdy is running far more frequently this season than he has in the past. He has 51 carries through 10 games versus 39 all of last season, and he ranks ninth in rushing among all quarterbacks with 267 yards.
“You don’t want him to get hit and we always talk about that,” Shanahan said. “I think he’s done a pretty good job this year of avoiding it. He hasn’t been too reckless. There was one in particular (on Sunday) I thought he could have gotten down on a little bit earlier.”
• The 49ers signed edge rusher Jonathan Garvin, who spent training camp with them, to the practice squad, perhaps as a hedge against Nick Bosa’s hip/oblique injury. Like last week, Bosa didn’t practice Wednesday in the hope that the issue will calm down enough over the week to allow him to play in Green Bay on Sunday.
Bosa went into the Seahawks game with a painful oblique injury on one side of his body and emerged with it being problematic on both sides. He said he was more sore on Wednesday than he was at this time last week and wasn’t sure whether he could play against the Packers.
“It’s a little early to call it either way,” he said. “We’ll find out in a few days.”
Bosa missed all but two games of the 2020 season after suffering an ACL tear. Since then he’s missed one start — a Week 6 loss to the Atlanta Falcons in 2022.
Offensive tackle Trent Williams (ankle), McCaffrey, defensive tackle Kevin Givens (groin) and linebacker Tatum Bethune (knee) also missed practice. Tight end George Kittle (hamstring), Purdy, cornerback Charvarius Ward (personal) and receiver Jacob Cowing (concussion) were limited.
Kittle said the hamstring injury that kept him out of the Seahawks game was “completely different” than the one that caused him to miss Week 3.
“Which is, I think, a good thing — not reinjuring the same thing multiple times,” he said. “It definitely got better throughout the week. And then Saturday was a tough day. I felt pretty good on Friday, then on Saturday it didn’t feel great. And on Sunday it wasn’t in a good enough place to be like, ‘All right, let’s go out there and push it.’ I don’t think it would have been my best stuff anyway.”
George Kittle (hamstring) said he would play on Sunday in Green Bay. He’s officially limited today, but looked spry.
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— @mattbarrows (@mattbarrows.bsky.social) Nov 20, 2024 at 2:17 PM
• Shanahan said he wasn’t sure whether Ward would play against the Packers. He’s been out of action since the passing of his 1-year-old daughter, Amani Joy, last month.
“This is gonna be his first practice in a while, so I don’t really have any expectations (for Sunday),” Shanahan said. “We’ll take it slow and we’ll see how he is out there today.”
• Offensive lineman Jon Feliciano’s (knee) practice window is due to close on Monday. The 49ers must decide by then whether to add him to the active roster — and take someone off of it to make room for Feliciano — or to keep him on injured reserve for the rest of the season.
Feliciano has been practicing at both center and guard.
(Top photo: Thearon W. Henderson/ Getty Images)
