For the past two seasons, Christian McCaffrey has been the 49ers' starting running back and Elijah Mitchell has been their backup. Obviously, McCaffrey will remain the starter for a while. But who will be his backup?
For the past two seasons, Christian McCaffrey has been the 49ers' starting running back and Elijah Mitchell has been their backup.
Mitchell is the favorite because head coach Kyle Shanahan absolutely adores him. He ran for 963 yards in 11 games as a rookie in 2021. He seemed like a quality starter. But knee injuries have limited Mitchell to just 16 games the past two seasons. And in 2023, he averaged a mere 3.7 yards per carry and 2.3 yards per catch. He was not good.
Meanwhile, third-stringer Jordan Mason a big running back who runs like a big running back, and he has performed exceptionally well when given opportunities the past two seasons. In addition, he's a much better receiver than Mitchell -- that was evident during OTAs and minicamp this offseason.
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