SANTA CLARA -- Success isn't always linear, which 49ers third-year running back Jordan Mason certainly can attest to.
The 25-year-old has skyrocketed up San Francisco's depth chart after he was signed as an undrafted free agent shortly after the 2022 NFL Draft and if the 2024 season started today, Mason might leapfrog veteran Elijah Mitchell as the team's No. 2 running back behind Christian McCaffrey.
However, after San Francisco signed him, Mason's NFL career got off to a shaky start. In speaking to reporters on Saturday after 49ers training camp practice, Mason shared how his initial rocky relationship with running backs coach Bobby Turner played a role in his quick maturation process.
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"I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that we started off on a downhill [trajectory], we were not on good terms at all and we just had to get it going," Mason said of his early relationship with Turner. "I had to learn his style ... it just took me growing up, getting in the system and actually learning him. Because he's an old-school coach, so you've got to do things a certain way. It was just how I had to switch up."
"'Bad terms' as in I wasn't the guy he wanted me to be. And that's it. I was just doing my own thing. He would ask me questions in the running back meeting room, I wasn't answering them because I simply didn't know."
Not only was Mason being coached by one of the NFL's best at the position, but he got to play alongside the actual best player at the position in McCaffrey.
"A lot. A lot. In the meeting room, I sit beside him," Mason said when asked how much he has learned from McCaffrey. "I'm grateful and glad I even get to sit beside him. I pick his brain every day, hopefully he's not tired of me. Sometimes I still feel like I'm the rookie, I ask him so many questions he's probably like 'I gotta switch my seat.' I just love sitting beside him."
San Francisco 49ers
In two seasons with the 49ers, Mason has a combined 83 rushing attempts for 464 rushing yards and four touchdowns on the ground. His 5.6 yards-per-carry average is very impressive, but something still was missing last season.
In an effort to best emulate his All-Pro mentor -- or as close as he possibly can -- Mason decided to take his game to the next level this offseason by improving as a receiver out of the backfield.
"I actually bought a $3,000 [JUGS machine] and I was like 'If I want to be something close to Christian, I gotta start catching something," Mason revealed. "That was me investing in myself. I bought that machine and I had my dad out there and he's shooting the JUGS machine at me and I'm running routes and things like that. We had a fun time with it this summer."
Mason spent all offseason training with his father, who has coached and mentored him since he was young, and his brother back home in Tennessee.
Standing 5-foot-11 and weighing 223 pounds, Mason is one of the 49ers' bigger running backs and runs like it, too. He describes his style of play as an "angry dude running," which was on display in Saturday's practice.
Mason caught a pass from backup quarterback Brandon Allen early in the team's 11-on-11 drills and got into it a little bit with linebacker Ezekiel Turner after some post-play shoving broke out. The two were separated by teammates quickly and practice resumed with no further issues.
Moments like those, however, are what Mason feeds off of.
"I love when people hit me. It kind of turns into another person," Mason explained. "If you hit me and, you guys saw today, it turns me up a little bit. It's a good and bad thing. Well .... no, it's a good thing. I love it."
And the 49ers love it too.
Mason has all the tools and the physicality needed to be a reliable second option out of the backfield for when McCaffrey needs a breather. The question now is, can he put all the pieces together to become the do-it-all back he aspires to be? So far he's off to a strong start.