Elijah Mitchell’s lack of playing time was a significant talking point after the 49ers’ Week 2 win over the Rams. He wasn’t on the field at all in that game after playing only 10 snaps and notching five carries in Week 1. His playing time saw a dramatic uptick in Week 3 when the 49ers hosted the Giants on Thursday Night Football.
In San Francisco’s 30-12 win over New York Mitchell was on the field for 28 snaps Thursday night and had touches on half of them. He put up 11 carries for 42 yards, and three catches on three targets.
Buy 49ers TicketsGetting Mitchell on the field for 28 snaps took the onus off RB Christian McCaffrey, who played a season-low 51 snaps despite the 49ers offense playing a season-high 78 snaps. McCaffrey also had a season-low 18 carries with a season-low 21 total touches.
This is likely more along the split the 49ers would like to ride in their backfield where they lean on Mitchell for a couple plays or a series at a time to ensure McCaffrey is staying as fresh as possible for potential late-game needs, and a potential deep playoff run.
For fantasy football players who have McCaffrey, this isn’t time to panic. He’ll still get a lion’s share of the work and in closer games he may see a larger portion of snaps than he saw Thursday. For players with Mitchell, it’s not time to start him just yet. He’ll still be worth a stash, but his workload is still going to vary week-to-week.
Whether they can adhere to Thursday night’s snap split will be determined by game script each week, but it gave us a glimpse of what an ideal backfield split looks like for San Francisco.
