Elijah Mitchell
Mitchell signed with the Chiefs earlier this offseason after spending the first four years of his career with the San Francisco 49ers. He appeared in 11 games (with 10 starts) as a rookie in 2021, rushing for 963 yards and five touchdowns, but multiple knee injuries limited Mitchell to just five games the following year.
He was then Christian McCaffrey's primary backup in 2023, rushing for 281 yards on 75 carries in 11 games, before a hamstring injury ended his 2024 campaign in training camp that year.
Overall, Mitchell rushed for 1,523 yards and nine touchdowns on 327 attempts during his time with the 49ers, averaging 4.7 yards-per-carry.
Notably, Mitchell possesses good speed (he ran a 4.33 40-yard dash prior to the draft in 2021) and has never fumbled the ball in his professional career. If he can stay healthy, he has a chance to work into the Chiefs' rotation at running back.
Brashard Smith
The Chiefs' seventh-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, Smith is a former wide receiver who made the switch to running back prior to last season, and as it turned out, Smith was a natural at it.
The 5-foot-10, 194-pound Smith rushed for 1,332 yards and 14 touchdowns while averaging 5.67 yards-per-carry during his lone season at SMU in 2024. He also tallied 39 catches for 327 yards and four scores, and when combined with his kick return yardage, Smith's 1,977 all-purpose yards ranked fourth in the FBS. Only Ashton Jeanty, Cam Skattebo and Omarion Hampton recorded more.
He was one of just eight players in the FBS to average more than 140 all-purpose yards-per-game in 2024, and he was the only player in the FBS last year to record at least 1,300 rushing yards, 300 receiving yards and 300 kick-return yards.
Smith, whose 4.39-second 40-yard dash was the third-fastest of any running back at the NFL Scouting Combine this year, is a jack-of-all-trades sort of playmaker who will have a chance to make an impact on both offense and special teams this season.