Has Shanahan found his latest bargain back?
6th-rounder Mitchell might continue coach’s pattern
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — The 49ers surprised many Sunday when they didn’t play running back Trey Sermon, their rookie third-round pick from Ohio State, and instead made two lessheralded players the backups behind Raheem Mostert.
After a moment, however, those who have closely studied the Shanahans had this response: of course.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan and his retired father, Mike, have a long history of locating their best backs in the bargain bin.
And it appears Elijah Mitchell could be the latest sensation to join the collection.
On Sunday, Mitchell, a rookie sixthround pick from a Sun Belt Conference school, made history while making his NFL debut. After Mostert exited with a knee injury after two carries, Mitchell rushed for 104 yards on 19 carries and had a 38-yard touchdown scamper.
The 49ers have a rich running back history that includes Hall of Famers Joe Perry, John Henry Johnson and Hugh McElhenny and Canton-bound Frank Gore. Mitchell, the No. 194 pick from Louisiana, is the only player in franchise history to have a 100-yard performance in his first NFL game.
Mitchell should have plenty more op
portunities to prove he’s not a one-game sensation: On Tuesday, Mostert announced via social media that he will have season-ending knee surgery.
Is Mitchell ready to assume lead-back duties? It’s early, but the initial returns suggest he is poised to join a large group of undrafted and later-round picks who have flourished in the outside-zone scheme that Kyle Shanahan has kept in the family. During Mike Shanahan’s 14-season tenure as the Broncos’ head coach, Denver was led in rushing for 10 of those seasons by Hall of Famer Terrell Davis (sixth round), Mike Anderson (sixth round), Olandis Gary (fourth round), Selvin Young (undrafted) or Peyton Hillis (seventh round).
When the Shanahans worked together for four seasons in Washington, with Kyle serving as offensive coordinator, Alfred Morris, a sixthround pick from Florida Atlantic, rushed for 2,888 total yards and 20 touchdowns in their final two years.
Kyle Shanahan said they’ve been able to locate backs with specific qualities — vision and decisiveness among them — to succeed in their system, which is often far different from their college scheme.
“There’s certain running skills that people have that sometimes is not always easy to see based off their situations in college — and the style that they play with or their team might play with,” Shanahan said. “So I think there always are some diamonds in the rough that you can look for.”
Shanahan and Bobby Turner, 72, a longtime running backs coach with both Shanahans, have found them with the 49ers. On Sunday, Mitchell was backed by JaMycal Hasty, who went undrafted last year. The 49ers have been led in rushing the past three seasons by undrafted backs: Matt Breida (2018), Raheem Mostert (2019) and Jeff Wilson (2020).
Breida played at Georgia Southern. Wilson is from North Texas State. And Mostert, a back Shanahan inherited when he was hired, was a well-traveled special-teams player before he became a late-season sensation during the 2019 Super Bowl run.
“By no means do we hit on every one,” Shanahan said. “We go through this a lot, so there’s a lot that don’t work out. … We’re always trying to look for certain things and you think you see it right when you look on tape, but you don’t really know for sure until you get those guys.”
For example, Mike Shanahan isn’t bragging about selecting Detron Smith (17 career yards) in the third round in 1996. His son had a big whiff when he lobbied for the 49ers to trade up for Utah’s Joe Williams in the fourth round in 2017. Williams was waived after spending his first season on injured reserve and has not played a regularseason snap in the NFL.
The 49ers have yet to receive an initial return on their investment after trading up to select Sermon in the third round, making him the highest drafted of the three running backs they’ve taken during Shanahan’s tenure. Asked why Sermon was inactive Sunday, Shanahan offered a simple explanation: He was their fourth running back on the depth chart.
At the moment, with Mostert out for the season, Mitchell is their top running back, perhaps through 2021 and beyond.
Who could have seen that coming? Probably only those who have studied the Shanahans.
Briefly: The 49ers put Jason Verrett, out for the season with a torn ACL, on injured reserve and promoted cornerback Dontae Johnson to the active roster from the practice squad. The team also signed linebacker Curtis Bolton to its practice squad and released wide receiver Isaiah Zuber.