Looking at How an Increased Role for Keaton Mitchell Benefits the Offense
One of ESPN’s Bill Barnwell’s biggest takeaways from the Ravens’ 30-16 win over the Bears was speedy running back Keaton Mitchell’s impressive showing on the handful of touches he received.
Mitchell, who was a healthy scratch for the first four games of the season and had just three carries heading into this past Sunday’s game, turned four carries into 43 yards, including a 25-yard gain in which he maxed out at 20.3 mph, per NFL Next Gen Stats.
Over his three seasons in the NFL, Mitchell has averaged 6.9 yards per carry on 69 attempts.
“Mitchell is not about to take over for Henry, but the Ravens need something to spark their run game,” Barnwell wrote. “Even before Lamar Jackson went down with his hamstring injury, the Ravens were struggling for consistency on the ground, despite some explosive runs. They’re 28th in the league in success rate on carries by their running backs, which suggests that they’ve been struggling to stay on schedule and keep the offense out of third-and-long situations.”
Barnwell said getting Mitchell more involved provides a different element to the offense and benefits Henry.
“Mitchell is more of a home run hitter than a between-the-tackles runner, but he might have a viable role to play in this offense,” Barnwell wrote. “The Ravens need to keep Henry fresh for a potential postseason run.”
Press Box’s Bo Smolka noted that Mitchell had three carries on the Ravens’ last full possession in the game (including one for eight yards that was erased when the Ravens accepted an offside penalty against the Bears).
“That’s an interesting concept if you’re going to bring him in late with tired legs on defense and now this scatback comes in and can be damaging on fresh legs,” Smolka said on “Glenn Clark Radio.”