The San Francisco 49ers have a couple of inadvertent whistleblowers on their roster.
Running back Jordan Mason’s comments to ESPN’s Lisa Salters after Monday night’s win over the New York Jets are raising questions about the 49ers’ practice of providing accurate information on their injury report.
The truth of the San Francisco 49ers’ injury report is questionable
Mason told Salters the 49ers informed him on Friday that he would be the starting running back against the Jets on Monday Night Football. On Saturday’s final injury report for Week 1, head coach Kyle Shanahan listed Christian McCaffrey as questionable to play the Jets.
It appears doubtful the 49ers thought McCaffrey would play the Jets. If Mason accidentally told on Shanahan, it wouldn’t be the first time a 49ers player relayed contradictory information between what the team put on its injury report and what they knew a player’s health status was.
The 49ers had a similar situation pop up in the Super Bowl
As previously discussed on GH, The Athletic quoted linebacker Fred Warner admitting after the 49ers’ Super Bowl loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in February that the team was aware Dre Greenlaw was battling an Achilles injury before the Super Bowl. Greenlaw would leave the Super Bowl after suffering an Achilles tear.
“He’s just been dealing with that same Achilles injury for the last few weeks. So when we ran out on the field together and I see him drop down, I knew exactly what happened.”
Many analysts think Greenlaw’s injury changed the outcome of a game that the Chiefs won in a comeback that was completed in overtime. Greenlaw’s replacement on Defense, Oren Burks, struggled in pass defense in the Super Bowl.
Once Dre Greenlaw went down, Oren Burks filled in for him. Here’s how he did in coverage:
• 9 targets
• 9 catches allowed
• 1 touchdown
• 134.7 passer rating when targeted
• 32.1 PFF coverage grade pic.twitter.com/UKjwtqeFpt— Coach Yac 🗣 (@Coach_Yac) February 12, 2024
Greenlaw had been listed on injury reports for the Divisional Round and The NFC Championship Game for having an Achilles injury. However, the 49ers did not list Greenlaw as having an Achilles injury on the injury report for the Super Bowl.
The NFL doesn’t seem to care the 49ers might be cheating
The league didn’t appear interested in Warner’s admission about Greenlaw’s status on the Super Bowl injury report being untrue. The league isn’t interested in investigating Mason’s comments about McCaffrey’s status on Friday’s injury report.
The league seems to be giving the 49ers a free pass to cheat, something they didn’t give the Atlanta Falcons last year when they fined the Falcons for not disclosing Bijan Robinson’s headache before their Week 7 game.
The 49ers might be trying to cheat the league’s rules on designations to gain an advantage over their opponent for game day. If so, the integrity of the game seems to be in question.
But the 49ers keeping injury information from the public is a huge deal in the sports betting markets.
The more the league becomes entangled in sports betting, with owners being allowed to own stakes in sports betting companies, the worse the optics are of not investigating the 49ers after two players have publicly made it appear the team cheated in their previous two (non-preseason) games.
Stick to your game plan. Always bet responsibly.
Visit https://t.co/0BzCtSeyS6 for resources. pic.twitter.com/MOy8gcjhdG
— NFL (@NFL) September 22, 2022
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2 Comments
Seriously, as a writer, all you can do is click bait? You think the Niners are the only team that this hacienda to? All the teams do it to gain an advantage against their opponents. And not a SINGLE team cares that you chose CMC (for example) for your fantasy team. Nor are they even slightly wondering about the beta you made. They care about their team. The REAL team.
McCaffrey was questionable, which means if there was a question about his (minor) injury flaming up, they will sit him. They won’t play him just so you can load your stats.
Seems like just another hater trying to bring down a winning team in the 49ers.