San Francisco 49ers: Elijah Mitchell makes history in debut

San Francisco 49ers rookie running back Elijah Mitchell made history in his NFL debut against the Detroit Lions on Sunday with a big performance.

After trading a bunch of draft picks to move up for Trey Lance in the 2021 NFL Draft and taking one of college football’s hottest players in 2020 — Trey Sermon — one might have assumed that it would be one of those two guys making NFL rookie history in week one for the San Francisco 49ers if anyone was going to do it.

Instead, it was sixth-round pick Elijah Mitchell, the 194th overall selection in the 2021 NFL Draft class and not even the first or only running back the 49ers selected.

Trey Sermon was inactive for the team’s week one matchup against the Detroit Lions and the rookie Mitchell dominated the San Francisco 49ers’ running back stable in carries with 19. The next closest in rushing attempts were Jimmy Garoppolo and Trey Lance with three apiece in this game.

Although Elijah Mitchell was not as highly touted of a prospect coming out this past year as Trey Sermon was, it was always easy to see his potential at Louisiana. He has really strong athletic traits and in an offense like Kyle Shanahan’s, he’s set up for long-term success.

Instead of just long-term success, though, Mitchell decided to bring the heat week one and make league history for a rookie.

San Francisco 49ers: Elijah Mitchell makes history

The first day three draft pick to run for over 100 yards in the season opener.

Not bad, rookie.

For fantasy football players, you’d better run to the waiver wire to have a shot at Mitchell. Especially if you drafted Trey Sermon and expected him to do exactly what we all saw Mitchell do in week one.

The San Francisco 49ers and Kyle Shanahan are no strangers to unheralded backs making big plays and big impacts on their offense. It’s something that seemingly runs in Shanahan’s blood, to be quite honest.

In his father’s time as head coach of the Denver Broncos, it was one late-round pick after another hitting at the running back position. Interestingly enough, Terrell Davis was selected just two picks later (196th) in the 1995 NFL Draft than Mitchell was in the 2021 NFL Draft.

But I digress.

Here’s a fun factoid for you as well:

You’ve got to love it. The NFL is poetic on a weekly basis, and this is not only a really cool accomplishment for Elijah Mitchell and the San Francisco 49ers, but something that Kyle Shanahan and Bobby Turner can hang their hats on.