After Monday night’s season-opening win, 49ers running back Jordan Mason told ESPN’s Lisa Salters: he knew he would start on Friday.
During his postgame press conference, coach Kyle Shanahan denied this.
“I never told Jordan he was going to start,” Shanahan told reporters. “I told him he had to prepare well. But maybe it was (running backs coach) Bobby (Turner) or someone who tried to get him pumped up. But I knew he had to play a lot. I told him it wasn’t going to be the same as usual.”
Shanahan also explained the decision not to start McCaffrey due to his calf and Achilles tendon injuries.
“Exactly the same stuff that’s been bothering him all week,” Shanahan said. “Today was a little too much. Decision made just before the game started. He came in, I just talked to him about it. It was still there. Thought it would be smart to leave him out. And glad we did.”
No one would expect the 49ers to admit that they knew as early as Friday that McCaffrey would not play. That, too, is one of the shortcomings of the injury reporting system. Given the rough, sparse reality of injury reporting, there are many opportunities for teams to employ tactics.
Whatever the case, Mason said what he said. And whatever he was told ultimately turned out to be true. Perhaps even more true than the team’s injury report, which listed McCaffrey as questionable.
