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After running back Keaton Mitchell rushed for 68 yards and one touchdown on nine carries in the Ravens’ first preseason game, he wasn’t given another snap over the next two.

Clearly, those watching thought, he’d proved himself and the Ravens didn’t want to risk injury — or they simply wanted to see what other running backs had. After all, Mitchell came in second in The Banner’s media poll for the player whose stock had risen the highest through the first half of training camp. He had multiple explosive plays on both offense and special teams, sticking out amongst all those fighting for a spot.

Looking back, Mitchell said, he can see why people on the outside would have thought that. But on the inside he hadn’t been told he’d earned a spot — he was simply hoping to get touches to prove he was all the way back after a long recovery from an ACL tear suffered in 2023.

“That’s just how the ride went,” Mitchell said.

Although Mitchell suffered a hamstring injury before the second preseason game, he returned to practice ahead of the third game, which he didn’t play in. He would have understood if the Ravens opted to sit him to keep him healthy, but that message never came.

Nonetheless, he made the initial 53-man roster (despite a surprise fourth running back, Rasheen Ali, making it) and was excited for the season to start. He had made a splash as an undrafted rookie in 2023, but the knee injury limited his impact that season and the next.

Now he had part of the 2024 season plus a full offseason and an entire training camp behind him — and a fresh season ahead.

The Ravens made him a healthy scratch for the first four weeks of the season.

“Now, that was a surprise,” Mitchell said this week.

Coach John Harbaugh, who said in March that he expected Mitchell to be on a “whole other level” this season, gave several explanations for his absence to the media. On. Sept. 8, he said Mitchell’s use was too limited to justify the roster spot and added he needed to improve on special teams.

“Those are all going to be designer plays,” Harbaugh said. “That’s what Keaton does right now – he runs kind of the designer plays. ... And, in special teams, he does OK in special teams, but he’ll tell you he needs to get better in that area to justify the spot."

On Sept. 20, Harbaugh reiterated that it was a “dilemma with the numbers” and that Ali’s work on special teams tilted the scale in his favor.

Mitchell had said in the offseason that he was asking to be more involved in special teams and was shooting to be one of the starting kick returners. He preaches the importance of special teams to young, depth players and takes that to heart as well.

Although Harbaugh told reporters Mitchell knew what he had to do to get playing time, Mitchell said with a shrug that there wasn’t a message about anything specific he needed to work on to keep from being a healthy scratch. Instead, he worked on improving his overall game and waited for his turn.

Luckily, Mitchell knew he had a strong support system to turn to, strengthened by his battle back from his knee injury. His family, his best friends on the team — linebacker Trenton Simpson and outside linebacker Tavius Robinson — and veteran running backs Justice Hill and Derrick Henry all helped him keep his perspective.

“We all know that we’re blessed to be in the same locker room together,” Mitchell said of Simpson and Robinson, who have faced their own adversity in terms of playing time and injuries. “We’re blessed to be in this profession.”

His supporters also told him to stay ready.

“My dad always remind me just to stay ready,” Mitchell said. “He’ll call me out of the blue and be like, ‘Make sure you’re ready. You never know when your time will come.’”

Mitchell’s dad would know about that. After being signed and then cut by the Jacksonville Jaguars as an undrafted rookie, Anthony Mitchell worked his way up from the practice squad into a role as a reserve safety for the 2000 Ravens team that won the Super Bowl.

Keaton Mitchell said people don’t always realize that he too was an undrafted rookie, but he takes pride in it. Three undrafted rookies made the team out of camp this year, and another, safety Keondre Jackson, was just signed to the 53-man roster. Mitchell said he loves answering their questions when they approach him for advice.

Between the grind it took to beat the odds as an undrafted player and the grit it took to battle back from injury, Mitchell said he’s stayed mentally tough.

He was given a small role in Week 5 against the Houston Texans before being relegated to mostly special teams against the Los Angeles Rams. The Ravens’ offense hit a low that game, scoring just three points.

When the team returned from the bye, the game plan suddenly featured Mitchell.

“Well, over the bye week, one of our things — one of the many things we looked at was — we said, ‘We have to tag plays for Keaton.’ We just said, ‘We have to do it,’" coach John Harbaugh said. “You want to make sure Derrick gets his reps, and Justice is effective, but we just said, ‘We have got to tag plays for Keaton Mitchell and make sure we get him the ball.’ And that’s what we were able to do. I think he had three plays where he got the ball.”

Mitchell didn’t know he’d be featured so prominently, but, as his dad preached, he was ready.

He was given four carries and rushed for 43 yards, an average of 10.7 yards per carry — by far the highest average in the game. He also contributed on special teams, returning two kicks for 66 yards.

“It’s definitely hard,” Mitchell said when asked how difficult it is to jump back in after so many games on the sidelines. “But with my injury I always told myself that, if you had a chance to put [on] your shoulder pads and be in uniform again, just stay ready. And, when you get inside the white lines, play every snap like it’s your last and just give it your all.”

Even in the course of the game, Mitchell is used to having to stay ready through long stretches of downtime. As Harbaugh said in October, Mitchell is used more on designer plays. He doesn’t get many opportunities per game and has to make the most of them.

Mitchell has continued to seize every one he’s given. He’s had four carries a game in the last three games and now totals 15 carries this season. His 93 total yards are 44 yards more than the NFL’s Next Gen Stats metrics would’ve expected from those 15 carries.

“Just to see him out there playing and making big plays, it made me feel good, because I know he’s happy now. He’s confident; he’s ready to roll,” said Simpson.

Mitchell is leading the Ravens in rushing yards over expected per attempt (2.9), according to the Next Gen Stats. He’s also hit 20 mph three times this season, as many times as Henry, who has had 148 attempts in nine games.

He’s become the quintessential change-of-pace running back.

“Him hitting that sideline [against the Bears ...], he hit 20 miles per hour, running sideways! Like that’s stuff only Keaton can do,” Simpson said.

“We call him ‘Wink’ with his speed. I’m sure everybody knows that, and you’ve seen it out there,” Henry said after that game. “So very proud of him getting the opportunities that he had and taking advantage of them. There’ll be plenty more to do that.”

Mitchell has also averaged 25.1 yards per kick return on 10 returns. That’s just under Ali’s average of 25.5 yards per return. Ali, who has only been given one carry in eight games, was a healthy scratch against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 10.

Harbaugh acknowledged Monday, after Mitchell had another good showing against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 10 (he specifically shouted out his special teams play), that it was hard to take carries away from Henry to give to Mitchell. But he said the Ravens are working on finding a balance that utilizes all the running backs most effectively.

Harbaugh said part of Mitchell’s increased role has to do with game planning but some of it comes from the improvement he’s seen in Mitchell.

“He’s been working hard, but he was coming back — he hadn’t played a lot last year, and I think he kind of was getting his ‘sea legs’ back as a football player, offensively and on special teams both," Harbaugh said. “He made a big impact on special teams yesterday, twice as a gunner. ... He had one play on the left sideline where he got down there right away. Then, he had one where he tackled and backed them up to the inside of the 7-yard line, which was huge for us because it backed them up on that last drive.”

Mitchell said there’s been no specific change in his game but that he’s been getting better and stronger with practice. Simpson added that time on the sidelines has given Mitchell a chance to dive into the mental side of the game as he goes over series with his fellow running backs on iPads.

“Every day I think I took some strides to get better,” Mitchell said. “It’s always room for improvement. So I definitely improved since camp, but I feel like I’m in a good spot right now.”

As the Ravens struggled to a 1-5 start, Mitchell became of focus of some Ravens fans on social media who yearned to see whether he could help get the offense going. Mitchell said he doesn’t follow fan chatter much but was aware that there’s a loud contingent of people advocating for him on social media (while also wondering about Harbaugh’s motives in scratching him.).

“I try not to get too much caught [up] in there, but I definitely see it,” Mitchell said. “I love that they have love for me, so I appreciate it.”