The San Francisco 49ers have ruled out their leading rusher, rookie Elijah Mitchell, of Sunday's game against the Atlanta Falcons. That likely means Jeff Wilson Jr. will get his third start of the season. During the 49ers' Week 13 loss, Mitchell suffered a concussion to the Seattle Seahawks, forcing him to miss last weekend's game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

"He was better this week," head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters after Friday's practice.

It's not the concussion holding Mitchell out, though. Instead, it's the knee injury from the same game, previously described as a "knee irritation," causing the setback.

"I think he's pretty good with that," Shanahan said. "There's lots of steps in [the concussion protocol], but he's right towards the end of that. I think he might be getting cleared later today. But it's just the pain tolerance of the knee and stuff. We thought it would go down faster, and it hasn't as quickly as we thought it would."


It isn't just this weekend's game that Mitchell is in danger of missing. Shanahan added that he isn't optimistic about the rookie's chances of returning in time for the team's Thursday-night game against the Tennessee Titans.

"I'm not optimistic, but I hope so," Shanahan added.

Mitchell has rushed for 759 yards and five touchdowns on 165 carries through nine game appearances and eight starts this season. San Francisco made him a sixth-round draft pick out of Louisiana in April.

The 49ers have just three regular-season games remaining on their schedule after Sunday's bout with the Falcons. The team is currently sitting in the sixth slot in the NFC playoff picture.

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