When the Kansas City Chiefs signed free agent RB Elijah Mitchell in March, the decision felt very similar to the 2021 NFL offseason, when they signed RB Jerick McKinnon on a one-year deal.
Now, we’ve got confirmation from Chiefs GM Brett Veach that McKinnon was, in fact, on their mind when it came to evaluating and bringing Mitchell to Kansas City.
“Then, Elijah Mitchell – maybe listen, we’re going to the well again,” Veach explained. “We had a good experience a few years back when we had done a lot of work on (former RB) Jerick McKinnon, and he was the guy that had a great career in Minnesota, went to the Niners, and just couldn’t get healthy, couldn’t get right, was always banged up. We were like, ‘You know, this kid’s still young, and although he’s battled a lot of injuries, we’ve always liked the tape, we’ve always liked the person. (He’s) a great kid.’”
Like McKinnon’s, Mitchell’s tenure with the San Francisco 49ers was marred by injuries. He’s ready for a fresh start in Kansas City, claiming to be 100% healthy after a hamstring injury cost him the 2024 NFL season.
The injury situations aren’t the only way these two players are similar.
“Similar skillset in a sense, he’s explosive, he has great hands,” Veach said. “I’m sure that you even heard (49ers Head Coach) Kyle Shanahan talk about how good he is when he’s healthy. I think it’s not a secret with him; he’s got to stay healthy. Again, I think probably the success (that) we had with McKinnon gave us some confidence to try it again, and he’ll have to get through training camp and get through a season healthy. Our trainers like what they saw in regards to his rehab from his injury last season, so hopefully we can get him on the field and keep him on the field because I think when he’s healthy, he provides an explosive dynamic in both the run and pass game.”
The Chiefs remain hopeful that Mitchell can stay healthy and have the career resurgence that McKinnon had for a few years in Kansas City, playing a similar role. Andy Reid maintains that in 2025, Mitchell can be part of the solution to the team’s running back problems alongside a healthy Isiah Pacheco. All it’s going to take is working with the training staff on a long-term plan to keep him on the field.
