Final year-end grades for 49ers 2021 NFL Draft class

Round 6, Pick No. 194 Overall: 49ers running back Elijah Mitchell

It’s strange to think the 49ers’ most impactful rookie from their 2021 NFL Draft class wasn’t Trey Lance or one of the other day-two picks selected.

No, it was sixth-round rookie running back Elijah Mitchell. And it wasn’t even close.

About the only knock on Mitchell was the fact it was hard for him to stay healthy, as injuries limited him to just 11 games played. Still, his efforts over those 11 games helped negate the draft miss on Trey Sermon, and what Mitchell was able to accomplish over the course of the year should stand the test of time in the Niners’ collective archives.

Mitchell, whose speed and elusiveness made him such a commodity, set a multitude of rookie records in franchise history. Most notably, Mitchell set a new team record for a first-year player with 963 rush yards, and he also recorded the most 100-yard rushing games for a rookie San Francisco player with five.

One can only wonder what a full season’s worth of numbers would have been like if he stayed healthy.

That’ll be Mitchell’s focal point heading into 2022, and he easily shaped up to be the 49ers’ most recent late-round draft gem.