Who Should I Start? Cordarrelle Patterson or Elijah Mitchell

Saturday, September 23, 11:31 AM

Atlanta Falcons running back Cordarrelle Patterson (thigh) has been given a questionable designation for the Week 3 game on Sunday in Detroit against the Lions. Patterson popped up on the injury report on Thursday after not practicing, but he was able to put in a limited session on Friday to give him a chance to suit up this weekend. The 32-year-old didn't enter the Week 2 win over the Green Bay Packers with an injury designation but was still made inactive. Patterson has yet to play for the Falcons so far in 2023, and even if he does make his season debut in Detroit, he's going to have a small role behind RBs Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier. He is far from the fantasy radar right now heading into Week 3.

Friday, September 22, 11:29 AM

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan made good on his promise to get running back Elijah Mitchell involved in the game plan after Mitchell didn't play at all in the Week 2 win over the Los Angeles Rams. On Thursday night in the 30-12 win over the New York Giants, Mitchell saw a season-high 11 carries for 42 yards and caught all three of his targets for two yards. It was nice to see the 25-year-old get more involved in a game that wasn't close at all late, but Mitchell's week-to-week workload could vary drastically based on game flow, and as long as bell-cow Christian McCaffrey is healthy and doing his thing, Mitchell isn't going to have standalone fantasy value. He could, however, see another solid workload in a Week 4 matchup with the lowly Arizona Cardinals.