When running back Christian McCaffrey became a surprise scratch for Monday night’s game against the Jets, my first thought was that it probably wasn’t a surprise to the 49ers.
After the 32-19 win over the Jets, McCaffrey’s understudy confirmed it.
Jordan Mason, who went from undrafted in 2022 to 28 carries for 147 yards and a touchdown, let the cat out of the bag during a post-game interview with ESPN’s Lisa Salters.
She asked Mason when he knew he’d be starting.
“Maybe Friday, Friday night,” Mason said. “Something like that.”
But the 49ers didn’t apply the “questionable” label to McCaffrey until Saturday. If Mason knew he’d be starting on Friday, the 49ers knew it, too. And they worked the injury-reporting system to hide the truth for as long as they could.
That’s not a knock on Mason. He told the truth. In so doing, he exposed the inherent flaw to a set of rules that allows a team to label a player as “questionable,” even if there’s no real question internally about his status.
On one hand, it’s permitted by the broad-brush process for disclosing injuries and player status. On the other hand, it underscores the existence — and value — of inside information.
The 49ers (as evidenced by what Mason said) knew the truth. No one else did, presumably. In a world without legalized gambling and fantasy football, there’s an all’s-fair dynamic that applies. But with money now changing hands based on decisions made in reliance on the information the team has provided, it’s a problem.
Should McCaffrey had been listed as doubtful? At a minimum, absolutely. There’s also a case to be made that he should have been ruled out.
Indeed, if the 49ers were playing tonight’s game at New York, he possibly would have been downgraded to out, because he possibly wouldn’t have made the cross-country flight with his calf/Achilles tendon injury.
For all anyone knows, the 49ers knew for more than a few days that McCaffrey wouldn’t be able to go. The biggest clue came via the first injury report from last week, when his calf injury suddenly became an Achilles designation, too.
And while the 49ers might have broken the spirit if not the letter of the rules, the rules are so loose and incomplete that it allows teams to take subtle liberties.
The 49ers simply wanted to win. Keeping the Jets in the dark for as long as possible helped them, strategically. But it also impacted the wagers (especially prop bets) that were placed in advance of the game.
By keeping the information secret until it was time to declare the inactive players, it worked. No one knew McCaffrey wasn’t playing.
Except for Mason. And presumably the coaching staff.
That said, the 49ers will surely slip into cleanup-on-aisle-five mode, claiming that Mason misspoke or whatever. Regardless, it’s clear that tonight’s development wasn’t nearly as stunning to the 49ers as it was to the rest of the world.
If the NFL is going to continue to stuff its pockets with gambling money (which includes allowing team owners to also own up to five percent of companies that operate sports books), the NFL has an obligation to come up with a more transparent and accurate way of leveling the playing field for folks who are legally wagering money based on incomplete information.
Especially when those who knew the truth were in a position to take full advantage of it, if only by sharing that information with folks who could put their money where their inside information is.