49ers have ruled UL alumni, Elijah Mitchell, out for the season. 

On August 27, 2024, the San Francisco 49ers had unfortunate news for their fans and the fans of Elijah Mitchell. Mitchell had suffered a hamstring injury that would sideline him for the entire 2024 NFL season. 

Sadly, this is not surprising news for Niners fans. Since being drafted in 2021, Mitchell has only been available for 27 out of 49 regular season games.

His continuous battle with the injury bug leaves his future quite uncertain. Over the past three years he has dealt with various injuries to his rib, finger, knee and shoulder.

One could come to understand why the Niners have held on to a sliver of hope for the young running back. The sixth-round-pick out of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette showed a lot of potential coming out of college.

His time in the vermilion and white was legendary, something like we had never seen. 

In his final three seasons as a full-time starter he accounted for 2,921 rushing yards and 35 rushing touchdowns.

Mitchell’s junior year in particular was a breakout season. He finished 11th in the nation in rushing touchdowns (16). He was also fourth in the Sun Belt in rushing yards (1,147).

That same year in 2019, the team’s success skyrocketed. A 10-3 record granted the team a date with the University of Miami (Ohio) at the LendingTree Bowl where they came out victorious.

In Mitchell’s final year, they continued to build off of momentum from last season finishing 9-1. They were scheduled to play UTSA in the Servpro First Responder Bowl, accumulating back-to-back bowl game victories.

His individual and team success persuaded the Niners to take a chance on Mitchell with the 194th pick with the thought of upside. Coming into the draft they easily had one of the worst running back rooms in the league.

Jeff Wilson Jr. led the team in rushing with a whopping 600 yards and seven touchdowns. The team as a whole was pretty middle-of-the-pack in most rushing categories so a boost was necessary.

The Niners also went through three different starting quarterbacks that season mustering only six wins.

In his rookie year, Mitchell rushed for 963 yards on 207 carries and five touchdowns. He also pulled down 19 out of his 20 targets through the air.

He broke the franchise rookie rushing record and it only took 11 games. He was on pace to rush well past 1,000 yards but was overwhelmed by a slew of injuries. 

He did struggle in his first postseason that year, only rushing for 169 yards in three games. He averaged 3.1 yards per carry and only hauled in one touchdown.

2022 was when things started to look dim for Mitchell. He battled a mild hamstring injury at the start of the season which held him out all of the preseason.

Six weeks into the season, Mitchell had only played one game and the Niners were 3-3 with playoff hopes being reconsidered.

That is when head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch pulled the plug and traded for All-Pro and Pro-Bowler Christain McCaffrey.

The Niners finished the season 10-1 since the trade, going all the way to the NFC championship game where they would fall to the Philadelphia Eagles.

A year later, heading into the 2023 season, Mitchell was hoping to bounce back after only playing five games the season prior. His opportunity slowly faded as he would remain in McCaffrey’s shadow as the RB2.

The more the Niners succeeded with McCaffrey in the backfield, the longer Mitchell would simply have to wait his turn. Which in turn shows just how slim the leeway is for running backs in this league.

Most teams center their offense around a premiere back, especially if that back is as dynamic as McCaffrey. It is not like a wide receiver where most of the time there are at least two and at most five on the field at one time.

Given the situation Mitchell is in, he would not get consistent reps as the secondary back in San Francisco. But that did not diminish his value as an insurance policy.

Considering McCaffrey’s injury history, ironically enough, having a guy like Mitchell would have given the Niners that reassurance. But with Mitchell out for the year the Niners do not have that flexibility.

Amidst all of the contract controversy the Niners seem to go through every year, their one goal is to bring home the Lombardi. And all teams know the number one ingredient for a strong playoff push is depth.