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The fantasy football championships are upon us, so congrats to everyone who made it. This has been a wild season of injuries and COVID-19 situations to deal with, and this week is no different. You will want to make sure to stay on top of the latest fantasy football injury news and set those winning lineups.
Today in this article we will check in on the injuries for the San Francisco 49ers running backs and their Week 17 Sunday afternoon game against the Houston Texans.
Is Elijah Mitchell playing this week on Sunday against the Texans? Should I start Mitchell if he does play? Can I still start Jeff Wilson Jr? Below we take a quick look at the updated injury status for Elijah Mitchell and attempt to answer these questions.
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Is Elijah Mitchell Playing This Week Against the Texans?
After getting injured in Week 13 and missing the last three games with a knee injury, Elijah Mitchell is expected to play in Week 17 against the Houston Texans. Elijah Mitchell is still listed as Questionable on the injury report, but all indications are that the 49ers' rookie running back will be back in Week 17.
This could be a huge return for the 49ers and for fantasy football managers, as the stud rookie running back could return in the fantasy championships with a juicy matchup against the Texans. Be sure to check back on Sunday for confirmation on his status, as there is always a chance that he is a game day scratch.
Should I Start Elijah Mitchell in Week 17 Against the Texans?
OK, so they say Mitchell is going to play, but should we trust that he'll get the work? The 49ers are heavy favorites against the Texans, so would they risk playing Mitchell a lot in a game that they could be in control of? Those are valid questions, but we have a little bit of an indication from the 49ers that Mitchell will see a good amount of work.
Kyle Shanahan is notorious for trying to play his cards close to his vest as evidenced by the fact that Mitchell emerged the way he did early this season -- even though Elijah Mitchell was in contention for carries before Week 1, and then he took the starting job away from Trey Sermon after Raheem Mostert went down. However, I'm inclined to believe Shanahan here because Jeff Wilson Jr. really hasn't looked that great filling in for Mitchell.
Everybody is going to remember the 110 yard game against the Falcons where he also rushed for one touchdown, but Wilson was mediocre in his other two starts, running for a combined 101 yards on 27 carries against the Bengals and Titans. Simply put, Mitchell is the more effective and explosive back. Also, while people think of Wilson as a hard-nosed runner, it's actually Mitchell who is the bigger back and has been more effective in the red zone.
Additionally, while the Texans have been playing better football of late and surprised everybody by throttling the Chargers last week, they have really struggled against running backs. Over the last four weeks, the Texans are 31st in the NFL in fantasy points allowed to running backs, allowing 30.1 fantasy points per game. Over those four games, they've allowed 502 rushing yards and a whopping eight touchdowns to running backs. Meanwhile, over the same span, they are 13th in the NFL in fantasy points allowed to wide receivers, including being 13th in the NFL in catch rate allowed to wide receivers, which means they're actually defending the pass well, not simply facing teams who choose not to throw against them.
If we knew that Mitchell was 100%, this would be a smash spot for him. However, even though the practice reports are good and Kyle Shanahan claims he'll play Mitchell "as much as he can handle," we simply don't know if that means a full workload or maybe alternating drives with Jeff Wilson.
What's more, since Mitchell has been injured, the 49ers have begun to use Deebo Samuel more in the backfield. In games that Mitchell has played, the largest percentage of rushes Deebo has seen is 15% of the carries. However, with Mitchell out the last three games, Deebo hasn't had below 19% of the team's carries in any game, even topping 23% in the two games where Wilson wasn't as effective. Will the 49ers keep using Deebo in the backfield?
That's another wrinkle that makes Elijah Mitchell more of an RB2 play with huge upside this week instead of the RB1 he would likely have been in this juicy matchup if we had no usage questions.
Lastly, with Mitchell back for this Sunday's game and Deebo working into the backfield, Jeff Wilson Jr. should not be trusted to start in any fantasy format.
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