Kyle’s update, 3:41 PM PT: Kyle Shanahan said Mitchell was hurt on his long carry before Deebo Samuel’s touchdown run. Mitchell will land on the injured reserve and miss roughly two months: He was pretty down today. Elijah went through a lot last year. He had worked really hard this offseason. And man, I thought he looked real good before he got hurt.”
Shanahan said rookie running backs Ty Davis-Price, and Jordan Mason will have to “grow up fast.” More of Shanahan on Mitchell’s injuries:
“That’s why we’ve been drafting one every year… This is the fifth year in a row. I think we’ve gone through at least four in a year. It can feel like you have a lot, and very quickly, it feels like you don’t.”
Javon Kinlaw has an ankle injury, but he isn’t expected to miss any time.
Shanahan is unsure whether George Kittle will play this week. Here he is on how close Kittle was to playing: “He thought he was. That’s why he made the trip and stuff. But we decided pretty early there talking to doctors and stuff Saturday night.”
Kyle’s update, 1:13 PM PT: Per Adam Schefter, Mitchell is expected to miss two months with a sprained MCL. That would suggest Mitchell has a Grade 3 sprain. I know some feel like the team should have kept Trey Sermon, and that predicting Mitchell’s injury was obvious, but those two are not mutually exclusive.
The running game impressed during Week 1, carrying the ball 33 times for 176 yards, averaging 5.3 yards per carry. Before he went down with an injury, Elijah Mitchell played about as well as you could ask. The second-year runner had six attempts for 41 yards, with two of those going for more than ten yards and one going over 15. I thought Mitchell had an impressive block in pass protection, too.
According to Ian Rapoport, Mitchell is expected to miss some time after having an MRI Monday morning. Kyle Shanahan speaks with the media at 3:30 PM PT, so we’ll have more clarity on Mitchell’s injury then.
Jeff Wilson had nine carries, Deebo Samuel had eight carries, and Trey Lance had four designed runs. Ty Davis-Price, who was inactive due to Jordan Mason’s special teams ability, figures to replace Mitchell. We’ll see if TDP or Mason picks up some of the slack with Mitchell out.
Mitchell has been sidelined multiple times with an injury early in his career. So for him not to make it out of the first half in Week 1 is troubling.