The 49ers officially beat the case.
The NFL investigated San Francisco's game-time scratch of superstar running back Christian McCaffrey roughly 90 minutes before Monday's season opener against the New York Jets and declared the team innocent of any wrongdoing on Friday afternoon.
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San Francisco came under fire in the aftermath of its 32-19 win over New York at Levi's Stadium. It initially was believed the 49ers knew McCaffrey wasn’t playing days before the team formally ruled him out.
The issue became a thing after comments from Jordan Mason, who started at running back in place of McCaffrey, and coach Kyle Shanahan. Mason told ESPN's Lisa Salters after the win that he was informed of the starting nod on Sep. 6 -- two days before kickoff -- but Shanahan told reports afterward that was false.
McCaffrey has been working through a strained calf which he suffered during 49ers training camp on Aug. 4. He returned to practice on Sep. 3, but his calf pain, paired with frustrating Achilles tendonitis, has kept the 2023 NFL Offensive Player of the Year out of San Francisco’s early 2024 NFL schedule.
Despite practicing lightly over the past two weeks, McCaffrey was a no-go in San Francisco’s win on “Monday Night Football."
San Francisco 49ers
Mason stepped in and dominated, rushing for a career-high 147 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries, hence why he earned the primetime post-game interview that started the confusion.
Mason again will be the 49ers’ starter in the backfield after the team announced McCaffrey will miss Week 2’s Sunday matinee -- and possibly will head to IR -- against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium.
The 49ers were cleared of any wrongdoing and now can look ahead to Sunday's game.
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