Jordan Mason felt the need to apologize to Kyle Shanahan despite setting NFL benchmark in 49ers win

Jordan Mason is in a position nobody thought he would occupy four weeks into the season.

The San Francisco 49ers running back went for 125 yards and a touchdown in their Week 4 blowout win over the New England Patriots , that performance elevating him to 447 yards for the season. That stood as the most in the NFL before Derrick Henry exploded on Sunday Night Football to take the lead with 480.

Still, Mason now has three 100-yard rushing games to his name this year, the most of any player in the league, a remarkable start for a back who was supposed to be serving as the second-stringer behind Christian McCaffrey, who has yet to play a snap this season owing to Achilles tendinitis.

The 49ers are hoping to get McCaffrey back at least by early November , with that timeline meaning Mason will likely get six more games as the lead back taking the lion's share of the carries, rookie Isaac Guerendo unable to eat much into his workload to this point.

And head coach Kyle Shanahan naturally remains extremely satisfied with the Mason, despite the former Georgia Tech back feeling the need to apologize following his display against New England.

Shanahan told his post-game press conference: “JP runs so hard. When you commit to the run and he gets a number of carries, it's just eventually, he's going to get them [yards], you know what I mean?

"He just apologized to me before I walked in here because there's a couple [runs] he missed, which is the type of guy he is. There were some that he left out there.

"But there's also, when I feel there's nothing there. He also always gets a lot more than I'm expecting.

"He has been a stud this year. He has been a stud every time we've given him the ball and he's really taken advantage of his opportunity.”

The opportunities are set to keep on coming for Mason with McCaffrey likely out another month. Even when the reigning Offensive Player of the Year returns, it would behoove the 49ers to continue to give Mason a decent share of the workload to help ensure McCaffrey stays injury free down the stretch.

Of all the problems that could have confronted San Francisco to start the season, losing McCaffrey for the first two months of the season would have been high on the list of the most significant. His absence is felt in the passing game, but Mason's huge step forward has kept the running game performing at a very high level without him. He has nothing to apologize for.

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