The San Francisco 49ers have leaned heavily on running back Christian McCaffrey since acquiring him in a trade with the Carolina Panthers during the 2022 season.
Since arriving in the Bay Area, McCaffrey has racked up 550 touches in 27 games. That’s an average of 20.4 rushes and receptions per contest. Head coach Kyle Shanahan has hesitated to dole out touches to other running backs, but it’s time for that philosophy to change.
It was going to take a pretty seismic event to get to a place in the offensive backfield where McCaffrey isn’t shouldering such a heavy workload. That event might have happened Monday night when McCaffrey’s Achilles tendinitis flared up and forced him to miss the contest.
In McCaffrey’s stead, Mason churned out 147 rushing yards and a touchdown on 28 carries. That marked the most carries a player has had for the 49ers since head coach Kyle Shanahan took over in 2017. Mason did more than that, though.
He was targeted once and made a tough catch on third down to move the chains. Then he came up with an excellent blitz pick up on a play where quarterback Brock Purdy was going to get walloped from his blind side.
Mason’s ability to make plays as a receiver, and to work effectively as a pass blocker (he received the team’s highest pass-blocking grade from Pro Football Focus in five pass blocking snaps), provide a blueprint for how he can be an effective backup for McCaffrey.
This isn’t to say the 49ers should take on a backfield-by-committee approach. McCaffrey is still the best running back in the sport and he should be the team’s No. 1 option at the position. He just doesn’t need to do everything all the time.
Since McCaffrey arrived in San Francisco, one player has gotten 10+ carries in a game the 49ers won by fewer than 18 points with McCaffrey healthy. That was Elijah Mitchell, who notched 18 carries in a 22-16 win over the Chargers in Week 9 of the 2022 campaign. That was McCaffrey’s third game with the team.
Achilles tendinitis isn’t likely to just go away. The 49ers are going to have to manage that ailment. Instead of guessing when McCaffrey might be healthy enough to shoulder a full workload, they should manage the injury by eliminating some of his touches. Mason can work as a closer the way he has in the past, taking on tough carries to salt away games. He can also work in throughout the game though for a few plays here and there. If the 49ers can drop even eight touches per game from McCaffrey’s workload, it means he’s getting 136 fewer touches over the course of a full season.
That could be huge come January and February, which are the months the 49ers are really playing for.
McCaffrey could return as soon as Week 2. The club may also opt to let him get another week off after a short week, with travel to Minnesota to play on turf. Whenever he does return, the 49ers will need to ensure they’re doing what they can to keep their star running back healthy.
Jordan Mason showed on Monday that getting him involved is an easy way for San Francisco to do just that.
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