Who Should I Start? Elijah Mitchell or Hassan Haskins

Tuesday, December 23, 11:37 PM

The New England Patriots signed veteran free-agent running back Elijah Mitchell to their practice squad on Tuesday, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network. Mitchell quickly latches on with another team after the Kansas City Chiefs waived him last weekend. Patriots rookie RB TreVeyon Henderson suffered a concussion in Sunday night's win over the Baltimore Ravens and is in danger of missing the Week 17 game against the New York Jets, so the Pats will bring in Mitchell to give the team more RB depth at the end of the regular season. If Henderson doesn't clear the league's concussion protocol by this Sunday, Mitchell could be elevated to the active 53-man roster to serve as the RB3 behind Rhamondre Stevenson and D'Ernest Johnson. Unless Stevenson also misses time with an injury, Mitchell is unlikely to become a major contributor in New England's offense. He was active for just one game with KC this year and didn't have a single rushing attempt.

Sunday, January 4, 4:00 PM

Los Angeles Chargers running back Hassan Haskins (concussion) is officially active for Sunday's Week 18 contest against the Denver Broncos. He had been listed as questionable but was trending in the right direction after practicing in full on Friday. Haskins has appeared in just two games since Week 7, but he could carve out an increased role as Kimani Vidal's backup on Sunday with Omarion Hampton (ankle) inactive. With that being said, there's some uncertainty about how the Chargers will fare with Trey Lance quarterbacking the offense against a strong Broncos defense. If the Bolts struggle to move the ball on Sunday, Haskins won't be able to carve out standalone fantasy value in his role behind Vidal. He can be avoided in most leagues.