49ers draft Elijah Mitchell, overhaul running back room

The 49ers made it clear they wanted to infuse some more talent at running back in the 2021 NFL Draft, and grabbing Louisiana’s Elijah Mitchell reinforced this.

While the bulk of focus for the San Francisco 49ers in the 2021 NFL Draft centered around the No. 3 overall pick and the eventual selection of North Dakota State quarterback Trey Lance, a similarly building storyline was how head coach Kyle Shanahan and Co. made serious efforts to reinforce other areas of the roster with some much-needed depth.

An area hit particularly hard last year because of injury was at running back, where veterans like Raheem Mostert, Jeff Wilson Jr., Tevin Coleman and Jerick McKinnon all missed time with noteworthy injuries.

Coleman and McKinnon are both gone now, leaving Mostert, Wilson, JaMycal Hasty and Austin Walter as the only halfbacks the Niners had rostered entering the draft.

Well, not any longer.

San Francisco made something of a shock on day two of the draft, grabbing Ohio State running back Trey Sermon, whose big-bodied abilities could make for a legitimate long-term replacement for someone like Mostert and/or Wilson.

Those two are entering a contract year this season, too, by the way.

Yet Sermon wasn’t enough, as the 49ers used their final pick of the draft in Round 6 on Louisiana running back Elijah Mitchell.

Why 49ers should like Elijah Mitchell

Mitchell is the epitome of a dual-threat option who can act both as a one-cut runner with speed and a dangerous pass-catching target out of the backfield.

All one needs to do is look at the splits between his rushing efforts and his receiving numbers, particularly back in 2018:

Provided by CFB at Sports Reference
Generated 5/1/2021.

On top of that, Mitchell has the speed Shanahan covets, having run an impressive 4.38 40-yard time during his pro day. And while Mitchell might be a touch slower than Mostert, who owned the league’s two best ball-carrying speeds last season, the former’s 5-foot-11 and 218-pound frame makes for a tough tackle, too.

Now, Louisiana didn’t exactly face top-tier competition. So, not unlike Lance, there are going to be arguments whether or not Mitchell can face off against some bigger and faster defenders at the pro level.

And there’s also the wonder about where he’ll wind up on the Niners’ depth chart, too.

Hasty is probably the one most affected by Mitchell, and it doesn’t benefit the former to have suffered an ACL tear late last season. At least not in terms of Hasty being active on San Francisco’s roster come Week 1. If anything, Mitchell is likely an upgrade over Hasty anyway and doesn’t have to worry about recovering from a potentially debilitating injury setback.

Especially for a running back.

Either way, the running back competition this offseason should be fun to watch, namely with both Sermon and Mitchell in the mix to push some of the older established veterans like Mostert and Wilson.