The star of the 49ers’ 2021 draft class was not their headline-making first pick, but the man they took with their final selection, running back Elijah Mitchell, who enjoyed a superb rookie season in the San Francisco backfield. However, sustained long-term success in the Kyle Shanahan offense can be tough for running backs given the Niners head coach’s track record of using and getting production out of a plethora of players at the position.
Mitchell’s challenge in 2022 will be to build on a hugely encouraging first NFL season and make the leap to establish himself as the clear-cut number one in a running backs room that is typically crowded.
He has Jeff Wilson Jr, Trey Sermon, JaMycal Hasty and rookies Tyrion Davis-Price and Jordan Mason for company on the RB depth chart heading into training camp. Shanahan will surely not hesitate to distribute the carries elsewhere should Mitchell underperform.
So how does Mitchell not only avoid a slump, but take the next step towards becoming a Pro Bowl player in his second year in the league?
Staying on the field
(Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
The first answer is an obvious one. Mitchell finished with 963 yards, 37 shy of the 1,000-yard mark. Had he not missed six games through injury, Mitchell would have comfortably cleared that mark.
Running back is a position that lends itself to injuries and the fact the Niners invested in further depth at that spot by drafting Davis-Price may help Mitchell avoid too much wear and tear in 2022 by lightening his workload.
Mitchell averaged 4.7 yards per carry and 87.5 yards per game in 2021, numbers that would have had him on track for close to 1,500 yards on the ground had he played a full season.
Yet if he is to produce at the same level while potentially taking on fewer carries per game in 2022, Mitchell will need to improve his efficiency, and there is a clear way through which he can do that.
Avoiding early contact
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Mitchell finished the year 14th in Football Outsiders DYAR, which measures total value, and 19th in DVOA, a gauge of value per play, out of 50 qualifying players at running back.
While he was well inside the top half of NFL in both metrics, there is clear room for improvement. His Success Rate of 50 percent was 30th among qualifying backs. When a runner’s DVOA is higher than his Success Rate, it indicates that he was reliant on long explosive runs…
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