It’s rare for an NFL player to walk away on his own terms. For most in the league, there’s simply a moment when the phone stops buzzing, when the schedule keeps rolling forward without them. After some time, a player realizes that his time is up.

Elijah Mitchell has to wonder if that applies to him heading into 2026. The veteran running back was just released by the New England Patriots before the divisional round, swapping places on the team’s practice squad with pass rusher Darrell Taylor. It sets Mitchell free once again, just shortly after getting cut by the Kansas City Chiefs, which puts his future in the league in doubt.

For unexplained reasons, the Chiefs treated Mitchell like he wasn’t a fringe roster player coming into the 2025 season. Chiefs general manager Brett Veach made quick work when signing him in free agency on the second official day of a new league year.

Not only was Mitchell an early-spring addition, but he was also given a contract worth up to $2.5 million for a single season. That amount might not sound like much, but considering that Mitchell hadn’t been relevant since before the Chiefs started their run at a historic threepeat (2021), it was odd that the running back was given anything more than the veteran minimum.

Elijah Mitchell now faces an uncertain NFL future after brief, inactive stops with the Chiefs and Patriots.

Despite that, Mitchell was unable to carve out a meaningful role on the team’s active roster. The Chiefs held him hostage as a healthy inactive, yet when injuries impacted the depth chart, the backfield was bolstered by the likes of Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who was elevated from the practice squad instead. In the process, Mitchell was leapfrogged and left wondering what was wrong.

Mitchell had an incentive-laden deal that rewarded him for being active on game days to the tune of $50K per appearance. Yet even with Isiah Pacheco on the mend for multiple weeks and despite an ineffective backfield even when he was healthy, Mitchell remained on the sidelines. The Chiefs finally showed Mitchell the door in late December. The Patriots came calling with a chance to join a playoff contender, but Mitchell’s tenure in Foxborough was short-lived and the team released him after only a couple of weeks.

Now Mitchell has to wonder whether another team will extend a lifeline for 2026. He appeared in one game in 2025 with the Chiefs and failed to even earn a single carry. He didn’t play at all in 2024, due to injury, and he’s not been healthy and productive since 2022. Even then, he only had 45 carries in a season halted by further health concerns.

At this point, it feels like Mitchell might have to wait for franchises to report to training camp before finding a way onto a preseason roster. At that point, NFL teams will have a better idea of the backfield competition following free agency and the draft and will add veteran players to supplement any perceived needs. Anything else feels unlikely, but then again, Mitchell’s signing last March was a surprise in itself.