Who Should I Start? Elijah Mitchell or Chase Brown

Friday, September 5, 7:20 PM

Kansas City Chiefs running back Elijah Mitchell is a healthy inactive for the Week 1 regular-season opener on Friday night in Brazil against the division-rival Los Angeles Chargers, according to Nate Taylor of ESPN. It's bad news for Mitchell heading into his first year with the Chiefs, as it looks like he's the RB4 to open the year, behind starter Isiah Pacheco, Kareem Hunt and rookie Brashard Smith. The 27-year-old was getting some first-team reps early in training camp, but that was a long time ago in late July. Mitchell signed a one-year, $2.5 million deal with KC in the offseason after spending his first three NFL seasons with the San Francisco 49ers. In his three years in the Bay Area, the former sixth-rounder in 2021 out of Louisiana averaged 4.7 yards per tote on 327 rush attempts for 1,523 yards and nine touchdowns (five in his rookie season).

Saturday, November 22, 1:00 PM

Cincinnati Bengals running back Chase Brown had a slow start to the 2025 campaign. He has only three touchdowns on the year, which still certainly doesn't sit well with fantasy managers. However, there are those who are optimistic, considering Brown's uptick from a statistical standpoint over the last month. The 25-year-old had his first 100-yard rushing game in almost a year when the Bengals played the Steelers in Week 7. He missed that mark by one yard during Sunday's rematch. Browns' improvement as a runner is a step in the right direction, and his added contributions as a pass-catcher of late (14 catches in the last two games) have helped his overall production. All things considered, Brown is making the moves needed to re-establish his reputation for fantasy managers. Granted, he still has some work to do, but he is still worthy of a start in nearly all formats imaginable in Week 12 versus the New England Patriots. The suspension of Ja'Marr Chase could give him more pass-catching opportunities out of the backfield, increasing his ceiling in PPR setups.