Who Should I Start? Elijah Mitchell or Khalil Herbert

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).

Monday, September 8, 3:15 PM

The Indianapolis Colts announced on Monday that they signed free-agent running back Ameer Abdullah to their practice squad and released running back Khalil Herbert from the practice squad in a corresponding move. Abdullah joined the San Francisco 49ers as RB depth in training camp but was eventually cut from Injured Reserve due to a rib injury. The 32-year-old veteran will now head to the AFC South division, where he'll serve as depth behind starter Jonathan Taylor, rookie DJ Giddens, Tyler Goodson (elbow) and Ulysses Bentley. Abdullah will give the Colts 10 years of NFL experience, although it's unlikely that he'll work his way into a fantasy relevant role without multiple Indy backs in front of him going down with injury. In 16 games (three starts) in Vegas in 2024, Abdullah had 311 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 66 carries.