Who Should I Start? Elijah Mitchell or Tahj Brooks

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 15, 12:50 PM

Cincinnati Bengals running back Tahj Brooks hasn't done much of anything in his inaugural year. He had the chance to at least claim the No. 2 spot on the depth chart behind Chase Brown. While that wasn't expected early in the season, most had assumed he'd take over as the backup by now. However, that hasn't happened, with Samaje Perine (ankle) still absorbing nearly all of Brown's surplus carries while seeing limited action as a pass-catcher. With Perine ruled out for the Week 11 AFC North battle with the Pittsburgh Steelers, there's potential for Brooks to get more involved. Unfortunately, Brooks likely won't see much more work, if any, which isn't good news for those in need of a deep league streaming option on Sunday. For now, the rookie should be stashed on dynasty rosters while having virtually no redraft value.