3 winners and 1 loser from 49ers’ Week 1 win over the Jets

After an odd offseason for the San Francisco 49ers that eventually saw them retain all of their major offensive pieces from last year, there was some concern going into the Week 1 matchup versus the New York Jets on Monday Night Football. 

Rust was definitely a big one considering some of their key players like wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk and left tackle Trent Williams just started practicing with the team a week ago after securing their respective contracts. 

Then there were concerns that dated back to last year surrounding the run defense and its ability to stop a skilled runner like New York's Breece Hall.

The biggest of all would be the Niners' own running back situation. When it was announced that Christian McCaffrey was going to be inactive with his calf injury, it was fair to wonder how reserve rusher Jordan Mason would handle starting duties given he had never started in an NFL game before. 

Thankfully, the Niners pretty much allayed all these concerns at least for one week in their resounding 32-19 victory over the Jets.

Let’s break down three winners and one loser from San Francisco after this very solid win to start the 2024 campaign.

Winner No. 1: Jordan Mason

This should not come as a huge shock. 

Mason was absolutely phenomenal filling in for McCaffrey on Monday night. Mason ran the ball 28 times for 147 rushing yards and a touchdown. He looked absolutely unstoppable for much of the night, which is no small feat going up against a decent Jets defense.

He did so well that the 49ers probably will not feel the need to rush back McCaffrey from injury. They may be comfortable letting him sit the next few weeks out as well to let him recover even more and let Mason take the majority of the workload.

Even when McCaffrey is back, having Mason is a luxury for the Niners, so they can at least take some of the stress off their star running back and work him in on some possessions.

The next winner also deserves some credit for Mason's monster performance.