For all the money the 49ers have spent on key veteran players, they’ve got two of the biggest bargains in the NFL.
Quarterback Brock Purdy will make only $1.1 million this year, the third year of his seventh-round rookie deal. Running back Jordan Mason, undrafted in 2022, will make even less than that.
Mason gets a base salary of $985,000 in 2024. He earned every penny last night, with 28 carries for 147 yards and a touchdown.
In June, Christian McCaffrey received a new deal that pushed his new-money average to $19 million and essentially guaranteed his pay through 2025.
That’s the irony of a Shanahan-coached team. Mike, more than 20 years ago, proved that there are plenty of guys who can move the chains in his system. Kyle was doing the same thing in San Francisco, until he traded for McCaffrey during the 2022 season.
And while McCaffrey paid off in 2023 by becoming the NFL’s offensive player of the year and fueling a Super Bowl run, Mason’s performance shows that running back continues to be a position at which a lot of money can be saved. Draft a guy — or sign him undrafted, as Mason was — develop him, and use him when he’s ready.
With Mason in line for restricted free agency in 2025, the 49ers could keep him at an affordable rate for 2025 and then, after next season, make a longer-term decision regarding whether to keep Mason or McCaffrey, given that McCaffrey will be turning 30 and due to make more than $12 million.
Or maybe by then they’ll have another secret weapon whom they’ll be ready to unleash, the same way they did it last night with Jordan Mason.