Niners rolling over Jets without Christian McCaffrey bad news for rest of NFL

Jordan Mason let the cat out of the bag on national television, revealing to a reporter soon after the San Francisco 49ers' 32-19 win over the visiting New York Jets that he was told last Friday that Christian McCaffrey would not play Monday night.

McCaffrey was questionable going into the season opener with a calf strain but had told reporters as late as Friday that he planned to play, bringing into question if head coach Kyle Shanahan followed the league's injury protocol.

But this isn't a story about the NFL's storied history of coaches manipulating the injury report. It's about how one of the frontrunners for the Super Bowl has such a stacked roster that it doesn't even need its best player to dispose of another title contender. That's not great news for the rest of the NFL.

With McCaffrey inactive, San Francisco had 30% of the team's offense from 2023 on the sideline. But it didn't matter as Mason, undrafted out of Georgia Tech in 2022, proved more than ready for a workhorse running back role. 

Mason actually was third on the team's depth chart to start training camp, but second-stringer Elijah Mitchell was placed on the season-ending injury list with a hamstring injury during final roster cuts in August.

With the 49ers chasing an elusive sixth Lombardi trophy, players like Mason stepping up when foundational players can't go will be important for San Francisco's marathon drive to the title game. 

"Not having Christian is huge, but we have a team that really commits to running the ball," Shanahan said. "We have 10 guys out there who block for whoever the running back is. And we have some running backs and some receivers who know how to lower their pads and run the ball, too."

Mason earned his first start in three