The San Francisco 49ers defeated the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday night, but they lost their running back Jordan Mason to injury.
Rookie Isaac Guerendo had a big run filling in for Mason, which proves he can handle the role.
Mason has been stellar filling in for the injured Christian McCaffrey this year. The third-year pro out of Georgia Tech has been the leading rusher in the NFL with 609 rushing yards up to this point in the season. That is why it hurt so bad when he went down with a shoulder injury late in the first half of the game against Seattle.
Mason tried to come back in the second half, but after just one carry, it was clear that he was not good to go, and he sat out the rest of the game.
We do not know the severity of Mason’s injury at this point. We will surely know more in the coming days, and it is nice the Niners have some extra time off before their next game, which will be next Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs.
One hopes that Mason’s injury is not too serious and that he can be back in time for that game. But if he is not, the 49ers are going to have to get creative to try to make up for his impressive production in the run game.
The Niners went with a combination of the rookie Guerendo, Deebo Samuel, and Patrick Taylor Jr. to replace Mason in the backfield. They did not get much production out of this trio running the ball as Seattle was able to hold the run game in check without Mason on the field.
That is, of course, until Guerendo broke off a 76-yard run to essentially end the game with less than two minutes on the clock in the fourth quarter. He was also selfless enough to go down before the end zone to get the Seahawks to start burning their time outs.
It was an impressive run that made Samuel compare Guerendo to a former 49ers running back, who made a habit of breaking off big runs: now-Miami Dolphins rusher Raheem Mostert:
“We talk about it a lot but [Guerendo] kind of reminds us of Raheem [Mostert], with how fast he runs and how smooth he is, as you can see he separated from everybody,” Deebo told reporter Kaylee Hartung after the game.
It is a bold comparison and may be fitting, since Guerendo does wear the No. 31, which is the same number Mostert wore with San Francisco. The Niners knew Guerendo had skills when they drafted him, but he is finally getting the chance to display them.
Guerendo has primarily been used as a special teams player this season, much like Mostert was before he started getting more opportunities as a running back. Guerendo has had some early struggles in special teams, and frankly so has the entire team, but maybe now if he gets more opportunities at running back he will find a greater comfort zone.
With the injuries piling up at running back, the Niners need players to step up. Guerendo showed on Thursday that he can be a key part of the run game going forward.
Let’s just hope he keeps on channeling Mostert as best as he can.
