Who Should I Start? Elijah Mitchell or Tyler Goodson

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).

Sunday, September 21, 12:54 PM

Indianapolis Colts running back Tyler Goodson (elbow) will be active for the first time this season when his team visits the Titans in Week 3. Goodson is expected to compete with DJ Giddens for work behind Jonathan Taylor, although Taylor played 93% of the team's snaps in Week 2 and will stay the focal point of the offense. Goodson could work his way into a meaningful role as a deep-league flier or a handcuff to Taylor if he can pass up Giddens, who got some work in Week 1 in a lopsided win, but didn't get a touch in Week 2 against the Broncos. Keep an eye on how any work is divided between the backups, or if Taylor just features full-time.