Jordan Mason

The Athletic’s Matt Barrows reports the 49ers “clearly aren’t looking for [Jordan Mason] as a receiver out of the backfield.”

Mason has been invisible as a pass catcher while working as the Niners’ lead back over the past five weeks with Christian McCaffrey (Achilles) sidelined. Mason has run a pass route on about 60 percent of the team’s drop backs and has seen a target on just 7 percent of his routes. “Some running backs ... have quickly created that connection [with the quarterback],” Barrows said. “I’d say Mason is building that connection.” Unless or until Mason is more involved in the pass game, he’ll be game script sensitive.