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San Francisco 49ers running back Elijah Mitchell surprised everyone in his rookie year by rushing for 963 yards. Though he was a sixth-round draft pick, he finished second among all rookies in rushing yards and first in yards per attempt.
Mitchell set a goal of rushing for over 1,000 yards in his second season. But, tragically, the Louisiana product went down after just six carries in the first game of the season. He missed the next seven games, and then the 49ers traded for Christian McCaffrey. Mitchell got back on the field to complement the Niners' running game, but he suffered another injury and only ended up playing in five games all season. Sadly, injuries have prevented the talented back from staying on the field for long.
When is Elijah Mitchell coming back to action? What is Elijah Mitchell's fantasy football outlook when he returns? Let's dive in.
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Elijah Mitchell Latest Injury Update - December 27
Niners coach Kyle Shanahan is confident that Elijah Mitchell (knee) will be able to play in Week 17. While Shanahan didn't guarantee Mitchell would be participating in a full practice on Wednesday, the thinking is that he'll be practicing at full intensity at least on Friday. In the absence of Mitchell, second-year running back Jordan Mason has been the RB2 in two games. Against the Ravens, however, Christian McCaffrey took 87.5% of the team's designed rushing carries, with WR Deebo Samuel taking the other two carries.
Elijah Mitchell Injury Update for Fantasy Football
This is the second time that Mitchell has missed a stretch of games this season because of a knee injury. The first was in Week 4 when Mitchell tripped up and hurt his knee in practice before a game against the Arizona Cardinals. He missed that game against the Cardinals and the next game against the Dallas Cowboys.
When Mitchell returned in Week 6 against the Browns, he only got two carries for a loss of three yards. He lost yardage again on his only carry against the Minnesota Vikings the next week. It wasn't until after the 49ers' Week 9 bye that Mitchell started to get a little bit more work, but he was still limited to no more than eight carries a game. Mitchell is Kyle Shanahan's preferred change-of-pace back over Mason due to Mitchell's speed and familiarity with the 49ers' offensive scheme. The 49ers run a lot of outside-zone running plays, which Mitchell can execute better than Mason, who is heavier and excels at running up the middle.
Mitchell was just starting to look good in the three games preceding his latest knee injury. He had averaged 6.0 yards per carry against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 11 and 5.57 yards per carry against the Seahawks in Week 12 before he left the Week 13 contest against the Eagles with a knee injury after three carries for 13 yards. Having missed the past three games, he is expected to be back in Week 17 against the Washington Commanders.
Elijah Mitchell Fantasy Football Outlook
The 49ers have committed much more to making Christian McCaffrey to focal point of their offense this season than last season. McCaffrey has been averaging 17.2 carries per game compared to 14.5 carries per game last season. Mitchell, meanwhile, is averaging 4.9 carries per game versus 9.0 carries per game last season.
It has been hard for Mitchell to get into a rhythm both with his injuries and his lack of volume when healthy. He is only averaging 3.4 yards per carry and only achieved the necessary yardage for a "successful" play on 36.4% of his carries. He only started to put up solid stat lines in his last three games before he suffered a knee injury. But even in those games, he wasn't scoring many fantasy points with such low volumes.
Mitchell has never been much of a receiving back. In his rookie season, he only caught 19 passes for 137 yards and a single touchdown. The next season, he caught three passes, and he has only caught four passes for negative one yards this season. The Washington Commanders are allowing an average of 20.4 fantasy points per game to the opposing team's running backs, the fifth-most. But while his matchup is a good one, Elijah Mitchell should still be benched given his lack of involvement and questions about his durability.
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