Mason said in a postgame interview that he was told he'd be starting on Friday. Shanahan had a different recollection of things.
with backup running back Jordan Mason drawing his first career start in place of the injured Christian McCaffrey.that he'd be starting the game, despite the team not officially announcing McCaffrey's absence until a few hours before kickoff.
Asked about that admission, Kyle Shanahan denied telling Mason that he would be starting on Friday and attempted to clear the air. The 49ers' head coach told reporters that he didn't tell Mason until Monday that he was the starting running back for the season opener, but did suggest to him earlier that he could be in line for a large workload with McCaffrey not at 100%.
"I never told Jordan he was going to start. I told him he had to be ready a bunch, but that might've been or somebody trying to pump him up. I knew he was going to have to play a lot, told him that it wasn't going to be like usual. He was going to be a No. 2 back that was splitting a lot of the time, but he didn't know for sure he was doing that until today," Shanahan explained.
Many fans voiced their frustrations over the lack of transparency from the 49ers after Mason's admission. McCaffrey's absence had a significant impact on both fantasy football and sports betting, and the late announcement that he wouldn't be suiting up for the game came as a major surprise. Shanahan tried to clarify that he never explicitly told Mason he'd be starting until earlier on Monday, though that differed from when the 25-year-old said he was made aware of the situation.Karl Rasmussen is a staff writer for the Breaking and Trending News team for Sports Illustrated. A University of Oregon alum who joined SI in February 2023, his work has appeared on 12up and ClutchPoints. Rasmussen is a loyal Tottenham, Jets, Yankees and Ducks fan.
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