Niners Nation
He’s back, he looks good, but how much should the 49ers use him?
The San Francisco 49ers have a potential three-headed beast at the running back position. At least, now they do.
Christian McCaffrey seems more expected to play by the day. That makes Jordan Mason and Isaac Guerendo waiting as running backs two and three respectively. Add the 49ers 2023 Offensive MVP (McCaffrey) and those two and you have one of the deeper positions in the league.
Kyle Shanahan says McCaffrey looked, “awesome.” Shanahan indicated McCaffrey being taken off IR Saturday.
49ers general manager John Lynch had positive words for the running back as well. Lynch had his weekly KNBR appearance and discussed McCaffrey’s return to practice.
“He’s looked terrific,” Lynch said. “[I’m] hopeful he’s going to be out there with us. I won’t get into what form or fashion how many snaps all that, we’ll have a plan for that.”
That leaves a big question: How much do the 49ers use Mason and Guerendo alongside McCaffrey? Naturally, there’s going to be jokes about how Kyle Shanahan will run McCaffrey into the ground. But being serious: How much should the 49ers use their running back in his first week back?
Lynch was able to break down the depth behind McCaffrey, first was Jordan Mason:
“JP Mason has been a guy, when you make an NFL team as an undrafted free agent, we cut a third-round pick at one point to keep him, so I think that speaks to you about him always being up to the task.
“And JP kind of grinded through in this league as a backup player who closed out games, but was a really good special teams player. He got his [opportunity] when Christian has been hurt, and he’s really had a fantastic season. He’s of the mindset that he’ll be ready whenever we give it to him.”
If anyone has taken advantage of their opportunity this year on the 49ers, it’s Mason. Mason is averaging 5.1 yards per carry and has 685 yards on the year. He’s been carrying the 49ers’ backfield with McCaffrey out.
Right behind him is Guerendo who didn’t have a great first impression, fumbling a kickoff return against the New England Patriots. While ball security may still be an issue, he’s been getting valuable experience the last few weeks.
Lynch was positive of Guerendo as well:
“Isaac obviously has some special talent. We just don’t draft workout warriors. We draft really good football players. But he happens to be a workout warrior, one of those testing anomalies that’s just so gifted, explosive, and you can see it translate on the field. And it seems to be getting a little bit better each week.
“So obviously, you still want to get those guys involved. They can both help on special teams, they can both help on offense. You’ll still see plenty of those guys.”
Lynch won’t give us splits, but we can certainly...
