San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
BACK OUT TO MAKE ‘PEOPLE MISS’
an abductor strain.
Mitchell missed six games, was on the injury report before 17 of the 49ers’ 20 games (including playoffs) and limped to the finish: He averaged 3.1 yards per carry in three playoff games, including a season-low average (1.8) in the NFC Championship Game loss to the Rams, after averaging 4.7 yards in the regular season, which ranked fourth in the NFL among running backs with 150-plus carries.
“His mental makeup — he is a tough son of a gun,” Lynn said. “He is a tough son of a gun to play through what he played through. But what we want to do is work more to prevent some of those injuries by not taking as many hits. And just trying to teach him to win more one-on-ones and create a little more wiggle in his running style.
“Because he is an aggressive, decisive runner. But in this league you just can’t take too many hits at that position, or you’re going to be in the shop a lot. So we just want to keep him out of the shop a little bit. I don’t want to make him less aggressive because I love the way he runs.”
Mitchell got the message. Asked about his offseason improvement plan, he said he added about 10 pounds to his 200-pound rookie frame. And he began doing agility drills, assigned by Lynn, that he continues to do before each training-camp practice.
“Open field, making people miss,” Mitchell said. “That’s one thing I focused on this offseason that I wanted to get better at.”
Head coach Kyle Shanahan prizes decisive running backs who recognize holes, make one cut and accelerate, which requires vision, quickness and courage. On Friday, while praising running back Trey Sermon for his offseason improvement, Shanahan referenced why Sermon received just 41 carries last year after the 49ers traded up to select him in the third round.
“Those holes in the NFL close a lot faster than they do in college,” Shanahan said. “That was something that Trey learned the hard way his first year.”
Meanwhile, Mitchell was a quick study. But the next step in his education will be to maintain his aggression, while taking steps to avoid attrition. Of course, running with abandon and staying on the field is a challenge for any NFL running back. And the 49ers took a step to protect themselves if Mitchell’s injuries become an ongoing issue. They used their second draft pick in April on LSU running back Ty Davis-Price, a third-round selection.
“He runs like he’s a 230pound big back,” Shanahan said of Mitchell, “which is what makes him such a good runner. Just trying to not to lose what has got him here.”
Mitchell employs a powerback style, but he possesses breakaway speed: He ran the 40-yard dash in under 4.4 seconds before last year’s draft. However, Mitchell had just five runs of more than 20 yards in his 262 carries (including playoffs) as a rookie.
This season, if he can make more defenders miss — or at least take half a man, as Lynn says — he’ll have a better chance of staying out of the shop and getting into the end zone.
“He’s trying to go through people every play,” Shanahan said. “Which is why I like him so much. But when you do that, and you’re committed to that, sometimes you do leave some yards out there when you could have a little bit of a bigger play.”
“His mental makeup — he is a tough son of a gun . ... But what we want to do is work more to prevent some of those injuries.”
Anthony Lynn, 49ers running back coach on Elijah Mitchell