Who Should I Start? Elijah Mitchell or Jaleel McLaughlin

Tuesday, August 27, 5:07 PM

The San Francisco 49ers placed running back Elijah Mitchell (hamstring) on Injured Reserve on Tuesday, and his 2024 season is over. Mitchell, who was projected as the team's RB2, has dealt with injury problems throughout his career, having never played more than 11 games in a year. Jordan Mason is now expected to be the 49ers' RB2 behind Christian McCaffrey (calf) with Mitchell sidelined. Rookie Isaac Guerendo and Patrick Taylor Jr. will also see an uptick in playing time behind McCaffrey and Mason with Mitchell now done for the year.

Monday, January 13, 10:50 AM

Denver Broncos running back Jaleel McLaughlin was a complete non-factor in the team's 31-7 blowout loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday on wild-card weekend. Like most of the season, Denver's backfield was stuck in the mud and couldn't get anything going to control the game, with rookie quarterback Bo Nix leading the team with 43 rushing yards on four carries. McLaughlin, who had been the leader of a committee backfield late in the season, had only two rushing attempts for minus-two yards while catching his only target for no gain. It was a dismal end to the 24-year-old's second season in the NFL. He finished with 113 carries for 496 yards (4.4 yards per carry) and only one rushing touchdown in 16 regular-season games while adding 24 catches for 76 yards and two more TDs through the air. Denver will surely look to upgrade their backfield in the offseason to give more help to Nix in 2025.