Who Should I Start? D'Ernest Johnson or Elijah Mitchell

Sunday, August 20, 8:42 PM

Jacksonville Jaguars running back D'Ernest Johnson rushed six times for 36 yards and two touchdowns in Saturday's 25-7 preseason win over the Detroit Lions. He added two receptions for seven yards. Rookie camp star Tank Bigsby started over Johnson and got most of the work, with seven more carries and an additional 34 yards. Johnson was the only back to hit paydirt and lead the backfield in YPC (6.0), but he was still clearly the RB3 behind the former Auburn standout. It's also worth noting that JaMychal Hasty saw the field before Johnson, putting the ex-Brown even further from the fantasy radar than he already was.

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.