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Saturday update: The 49ers have placed Mitchell on injured reserve as he’s expected to miss 6-8 weeks with a sprained MCL.
49ers officially have placed RB Elijah Mitchell on the Injured Reserve list.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 3, 2022
The San Francisco 49ers have lost running back Elijah Mitchell to another sprained MCL. Three weeks after returning from a similar injury on one knee, he suffered the injury again, this time to his other knee. Head coach Kyle Shanahan told the media on Monday that Mitchell miss six-to-eight weeks with the injury.
Fantasy football implications
If Mitchell misses the lower end of that timeframe, he’ll be able to return for the 2023 NFL Playoffs if the 49ers have qualified. The team could elect to place him on injured reserve as the league changed the rules so a player can return from IR twice in the same season.
For fantasy purposes, Jordan Mason and Tyrion Davis-Price will get an opportunity behind Christian McCaffrey. Mason has been the third back while Davis-Price has mostly been inactive. Shanahan has previously said Mason has gotten the work because of his special teams abilities, but with Mitchell out, Davis-Price will get an opportunity.
Mitchell had taken a decent amount of work even with the addition of McCaffrey to the backfield. It’s tough to tell who will claim more work behind him. Mason and Davis-Price aren’t really worth a waiver add outside of the deepest leagues, but if you want to roll the dice on a lottery ticket, they have arguably equal value for the time-being.