The Los Angeles Chargers will be the first true victims of the 49ers’ nightmare offense on "Sunday Night Football" at Levi’s Stadium.
Elijah Mitchell will take the field alongside San Francisco’s many offensive weapons for the first time since Week 1 and for the first time since Christian McCaffrey became a 49er.
Mitchell will be back and ready to go after sustaining an MCL sprain in the 49ers’ season opener on Sept. 11 against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field.
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SIGN UP HERE And while it’s exciting to think about the pairing of McCaffrey and Mitchell in the same game playing for the same team, 49ers general manager John Lynch explained what Mitchell’s workload will look like in his first game back.
“I think we are pretty smart. We track everything,” Lynch said on KNBR’s “Murph & Mac” podcast Friday. “Unlike basketball, you don’t play minutes. It’s, 'We’d like to get this guy this many carries' and just be real smart about the way you bring someone back. But he’s full go.
“If he gets through this practice cleared, I don’t think there will be any restrictions on him, it will probably just be a cautious deal to not give him too much on his first game back.”
To quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, that’s music to his ears.
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With options like McCaffrey, Mitchell, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle and others, Garoppolo couldn’t hold back his excitement while speaking with reporters this week.
“Oh yeah, when we have the whole regime out there, it’s pretty fun,” Garoppolo said. “We’ve had two good days of practice here. It’s just a matchup nightmare for defenses. I mean it’s a pick-your-poison type of thing. So it’s my job to get those guys the ball and let them go run and be the special players that they are.”
The signal-caller also noted that McCaffrey and Mitchell playing together is “a hell of a combo.”
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While having plenty of offensive options certainly isn't a bad problem to have, Lynch explained how 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan will balance ball distribution.
"I think it depends on opponents, it depends on matchups, it depends on the style of defense they’re playing, and then it’s just that beautiful mind of Kyle, that’s on him," Lynch said. "We get him the players and he uses them and he’s really good at that. I think that also empowers you to go get a guy like Christian because you know he’s going to be utilized in a really effective and cool way.
"So that certainly gives me confidence whenever we’re talking about adding a player to the mix, are we able to utilize him and give him the right distribution of balls and would that take away from someone else? Kyle is very effective at working that out. And I’m excited to see it all come to fruition."
The 49ers Faithful, too, is excited to watch this offense come to life Sunday and hopefully, for the remainder of the season.