Following Week 10's 22-16 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, the San Francisco 49ers are riding high, one step closer to supplanting the Seattle Seahawks atop the NFC West division. Sunday's action also saw the return of running back Elijah Mitchell, who surprisingly led the 49ers' backfield with 18 carries. In speaking with the media, head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke about the distribution of touches between Mitchell and running back Christian McCaffrey, per Dave Kluge of Footballguys.
“We were hoping that the carries could come out about even,” said Shanahan. “That kind of was our goal before the game started.”
From a fantasy football perspective, this paints an alarming picture for managers who had been relying on the high-volume output of Christian McCaffrey, the former Pro Bowler acquired from the Carolina Panthers via trade in October. According to 4for4, McCaffrey ranks sixth among all running backs in total touch opportunities per game (21.7). In Week 10, the 49ers split the backfield touches (carries and targets) between McCaffrey and Mitchell, 19 and 18, respectively.
Should that trend continue, it certainly puts McCaffrey's RB2 overall in point-per-reception scoring (PPR) point-per-game average of 20.5 in jeopardy. That said, McCaffrey's 17.7 PPR points against the Chargers is still a solid total and would make him a weekly low-end RB1/high-end RB2 option should he and Elijah Mitchell continue to split.
Conversely, Mitchell's 9.8 points and usage are encouraging, as the second-year back may be more of a flex consideration than purely a handcuff to the affectionately nicknamed CMC. This 49ers situation will undoubtedly be worth monitoring as the 2022 regular season comes to a close over the next several weeks.
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