San Francisco 49ers running back Elijah Mitchell is out of the concussion protocol. However, it was never that head injury putting the rookie's availability for Thursday night against the Tennessee Titans at risk. Instead, it's the knee injury he sustained during Week 13 against the Seattle Seahawks.
General manager John Lynch joined KNBR on Tuesday morning and provided a positive update on Mitchell's status. Although, his status for Thursday night remains unclear.
Will Mitchell end up being a game-day decision?
"I think that's the case, in terms of taking it right up to the game," Lynch told Adam Copeland and Marcus Thompson. "Elijah's worth that. I think he's earned that with his toughness. The concussion took a while, and that protocol takes care of itself. He is cleared out of that, but at the same time, on that same play, unfortunately, he tweaked his knee, and that has been a little slower to respond.
"The good news is, I think this week, we've taken a positive turn. ... It is tough on a short week. There's not going to be a whole lot of full-speed reps to test it, but like I mentioned, like [head coach] Kyle [Shanahan] mentioned yesterday, Elijah's a guy who's proven worthy of allowing him that opportunity to go see on game day if he's ready. And if so, we won't hesitate. He kind of earned that trust in his rookie year, which is an impressive feat.
"He's been outstanding for us, and at some point, we're going to be really excited—whether it's Thursday or beyond—to have him back and healthy because he's been a really, really great addition for us."
On Monday, Shanahan said he hopes the knee issue clears itself up by Thursday night's critical matchup in Nashville. The other player whose status remains up in the air is linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair, who is dealing with an elbow sprain. The 49ers coach discussed both on Monday's conference call with reporters.
"We're holding out hope they'll be ready to go [on Thursday]," Shanahan said. "I know it's a short turnaround here. They obviously weren't ready to go [on Sunday against the Falcons], but we're not going to have any full practices this week. But if they can go, we'll definitely let them go. So, we'll probably have to take it all the way up to kickoff."
With 759 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns on 165 carries through nine game appearances and eight starts, Mitchell is the 49ers' leading rusher this season. He was inactive for the past two games.
San Francisco made Mitchell a sixth-round draft pick in April.
You can listen to the entire conversation with Lynch below.
