The San Francisco 49ers are masters of not skipping a beat despite an injury to a key player.
In Week 1, Kyle Shanahan and company looked A-okay even with Christian McCaffrey sidelined by injury. Little known back up Jordan Mason stepped in and racked up 147 yards and a touchdown.
Savvy fantasy football owners who scooped up Mason ahead of the game against the Jets looked genius because of him.
Mason isn't an under-the-radar pick up anymore, especially given the latest news out of San Francisco.
Christian McCaffrey injury update: IR is being considered
On Friday, Shanahan admitted to reporters that the 49ers are considering putting McCaffrey on IR after having his "worst day" of practice on Thursday while dealing with his Achilles injury.
Kyle Shanahan says the team is considering putting Christian McCaffrey on IR. CMC is dealing with a calf injury and Achilles tendonitis. pic.twitter.com/5pG2F1LkH6
— Kirsten Moran-Kellar (@kirstenlizmoran) September 13, 2024
The danger of letting McCaffrey play while dealing with this issue is obvious. If he pushes too hard and tears his Achilles, he'll be done for the season. No one wants that.
Frankly, Shanahan admitting that IR is on the table and ruling McCaffrey out for Week 2 says a lot. It would almost be surprising if SF doesn't put McCaffrey on IR.
From a football and Fantasy Football perspective, Mason only becomes more important with this news.
Adding Jordan Mason to your fantasy team is a no-brainer, if he's available...
Brock Purdy kept the 49ers afloat when Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo went down in 2022. It's up to Mason to do the same with McCaffrey out or limited for the forseeable future.
The better Mason performs, the less pressue there will be for the 49ers to rush McCaffrey back.
Either way, Mason is now a must-pick up if he hasn't already been snatched up in your league. He's only rostered in 82 percent of Yahoo! Sports leagues and 86 percent of ESPN leagues. So there are a lot of teams out there with opportunity knocking on their door.
He's going to be the 49ers primary ball carrier for at least the next week, if not the next month.