SANTA CLARA -- When Elijah Mitchell went down with this MCL sprain in Week 1, the 49ers probably had a feeling of, ‘Here we go again.’
Last year, starting running back Raheem Mostert was lost for the entire campaign with a knee injury in the season opener. In 2020, Mostert was only available for eight games. That followed the two lost seasons for Jerick McKinnon in 2018-19, following a torn ACL. Now Mitchell is expected to be out for eight weeks.
Just as Mitchell rose to the occasion in 2021, the 49ers have a couple of rookies waiting in the wings this season in undrafted bruiser Jordan Mason and third-round pick Ty Davis-Price. The Niners also signed Marlon Mack to their practice squad and the trio appears to be in competition with veteran Jeff Wilson Jr. for three gameday roster spots.
Mason only appeared in five special teams snaps and made a tackle on a kickoff in the season opener, but could get his first carries against the Seahawks on Sunday.
“Not really nerves, just excited really,” Mason said.
Undrafted out of Georgia Tech, Mason posted on social media about his pride on being one of the 16 percent of NCAA players to make it to the league.
“I’m just grateful,” Mason said. “Not a lot of people get to do what they want to do. I’m just fortunate to be one of ‘em.”
Mack, 26, is trying to recapture his form before his 2020 Achilles injury. He’s the lone rusher on the 49ers with a 1,000-yard season under his belt, which came in 2019 when he racked up 1,091 yards and eight touchdowns with the Indianapolis Colts.That followed up a 908-yard, nine-touchdown season in 2018.
The Niners added Mack this week after he was recently released by the Houston Texans.
“This is just another chance, an opportunity to show my talent and show that I can still play this game,” Mack said. “So far I’m just learning as I go, grateful for the opportunity of them bringing me in. I wanna go out there and help this team. I feel that confidence in that burst I got again.”
Though Davis-Price was a notable healthy scratch Sunday, Wilson said he's a big believer in the rooks.
“It just gets you fired up,” Wilson said. “You just have to absolutely not love football to see them running the ball and not get excited, you know what I mean? That’s that they bring to the table and that’s what they’re gonna continue bringing to the table. Like I said, I can’t wait for those guys to flourish and come in their own.”
Ditto for coach Kyle Shanahan.
“I like their style of running, both of them,” Shanahan said of Mason and Davis-Price. “I think they're very similar. They don't mess around, they get downhill. Two types of styles that we need and that we like, but there's a lot more to playing football with us than just running with the ball.”
It’s remarkable that 2021 third-round draft pick running back Trey Sermon was waived before the season and picked up by the Philadelphia Eagles. Davis-Price was beat out by Mason out of training camp, as Shanahan cited Mason’s abilities on special teams as a separator. San Francisco surely wants to get more production out of Davis-Price than Sermon, who was something of a ghost during his short tenure with the franchise.
The 26-year-old Wilson is the longest-tenured running back with the 49ers, as this marks his fifth season with the franchise. He looked a bit lead-footed on the sloppy turf en route to 22 yards and nine carries, without doing much to separate himself from the other backs on the roster. Shanahan is clearly still a fan of Wilson’s work.
“Jeff is such a good football player,” Shanahan said. “Anything that we ask him to he does, whether it's our third-down back, whether it's playing the fullback role when our wideouts have the ball, in the pass game, in the run game, he's been a starter for us and Jeff, he's just a very reliable guy. When Jeff's healthy and able to stay fresh he can play at a high level and he's one of the guys that we trust as much as anyone around here.”
Now the competition at running back appears to be wide open with Mack in the mix, too.
“This week we'll get a feel for ‘em on these three days and then we'll go with the hot hand in the game,” Shanahan said.
