Should I Pickup Elijah Mitchell? Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Outlook

San Francisco 49ers running back Elijah Mitchell was the 194th overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. Mitchell had a solid college career, totaling 527 rushing attempts for 3,267 yards and 41 touchdowns in four years at Louisiana. He also had 49 receptions for 597 yards and five touchdowns in college.

The former Ragin’ Cajun had no expectations as a sixth-round rookie. Yet, he was outstanding. Mitchell had 207 rushing attempts for 963 yards and five touchdowns in 2021. Mitchell also had 19 receptions on 20 targets for 137 receiving yards and a touchdown. Unfortunately, he struggled with injuries the following year.

Mitchell only played five games in 2022 because of injuries, totaling 45 rushing attempts for 279 yards and two touchdowns. More importantly, his fantasy value disappeared after the 49ers traded for Christian McCaffrey. Therefore, the former Louisiana star’s fantasy value is limited to being a handcuff for the superstar running back.

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What Did Elijah Mitchell Accomplish In Week 7?

Last week, McCaffrey was questionable to play against the Minnesota Vikings because of an oblique injury. However, the superstar running back played Monday night and had his typical workload. Meanwhile, Mitchell had only two snaps in the first half.

Furthermore, the third-year running back played only four snaps against Minnesota, totaling one rushing attempt for negative one yard in the loss.

Should I Pickup Elijah Mitchell?

Fantasy players have zero reason to have Mitchell on their roster unless it’s to handcuff McCaffrey. The superstar running back hasn’t missed a game since the start of the 2022 season after playing in only 30.3% of the games over the previous two years. Therefore, the former Louisiana star’s fantasy value is limited.

Instead, fantasy players should target Darrell Henderson Jr. off the waiver wire. The veteran running back is available in over 85% of ESPN leagues. Last week, he had 18 rushing attempts for 61 yards and a touchdown against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Furthermore, the former Memphis star was the RB15, scoring 13.1 half-point PPR fantasy points.

Unfortunately, Henderson has a difficult matchup in Week 8. The Dallas Cowboys have held running backs to only 15.1 fantasy points per game, the seventh-fewest in the NFL. Furthermore, they have given up only three rushing touchdowns to the position this year. While his matchup is far from ideal this week, Henderson is the top waiver wire add at the running back position.

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