49ers running back Jordan Mason had a big game filling in for the injured Christian McCaffrey on Monday night, but when Mason talked to the media afterward he wasn’t in a good mood.
Immediately after the game, Mason told Lisa Salters of ESPN that he found out Friday night that he would be starting in place of McCaffrey. That would indicate the 49ers violated the NFL’s injury reporting rules by failing to disclose that McCaffrey’s injury would keep him out. But between talking to Salters and talking to reporters at his post-game press conference, someone clearly explained to Mason that his comments could get the 49ers in hot water.
A reporter asked Mason, “When did you find out that you’d be in the starting lineup?” and Mason gave a halting reply in which he seemed to blame the media for what he had said on national television.
“That question right there is why I’m mad,” Mason answered. “That’s why I don’t like really talking to the media, because you say one thing wrong, and then, you know — I don’t know. Just skip that question.”
But Mason wasn’t wrong for answering Salters’ question honestly. The 49ers were wrong for telling Mason that McCaffrey was out 72 hours before the game, but waiting until 90 minutes before kickoff to tell everyone else.
