Less than 11 months after suffering a season-ending knee injury, Ravens running back Keaton Mitchell is set to make his 2024 debut.

Mitchell was activated off the physically-unable-to-perform list Thursday and is set to play tonight against the Cincinnati Bengals. Outside linebacker Yannick Ngakoue will reportedly be released in a corresponding move to clear a roster space.

The Ravens, who lead the NFL in rushing yards (191.1 per game) and rushing average (5.9 yards per carry), are not exactly hurting for another playmaker in the backfield. Derrick Henry is an early favorite for NFL Offensive Player of the Year honors, and Justice Hill has been one of the league’s best third-down backs.

But Mitchell, who averaged 8.4 yards per carry in eight games as a rookie, can be a boon as the Ravens fight for AFC playoff seeding and a second straight AFC North title. Here’s how he can help on special teams and offense.

Kick return threat

Coach John Harbaugh indicated Monday that the Ravens would ease Mitchell back into action with a light workload, saying he would be activated “when he’s ready to go and can compete and protect himself and all those different things.”

While Mitchell should have a role on offense in his return, if only a small one, his most important snaps might come on special teams. After offseason turnover on the Ravens’ return units and a string of injuries to free-agent signing Deonte Harty, the Ravens rank 21st in kickoff return efficiency, according to FTN. On kickoffs, Ravens opponents often targeted undrafted rookie Chris Collier, who was released on Tuesday, and he averaged just 22.1 yards on 10 returns.

Mitchell hasn’t returned a kickoff in the NFL, but he does have some experience. At East Carolina, he returned 12 kicks over his career, and in 2022, his final college season, he averaged 26.6 yards on his five returns. And under the NFL’s new kickoff rules, which have ushered in blocking schemes familiar to running backs, Mitchell’s learning curve could be manageable.

“Keaton is special, right?” Ravens special teams coordinator Chris Horton said last week. “He’s a special player; we all saw what he did last year whenever he got the ball in his hands. For us, it’s whatever player we have available that we feel is best for us and we can put back there, we’re going to give him an opportunity, and we’re going to let him roll.”

Early-down option

Henry leads the NFL in carries (168), but even at age 30, few running backs are as well built to withstand heavy workloads. Henry finished with over 300 carries in three of his eight Tennessee Titans seasons, including as recently as 2022, when he had 349 attempts.

Harbaugh said last month that he was “happy” with Henry’s workload “because it does mean that we’ve had a lot of carries in the fourth quarter, which means that we have the lead, and that’s what you want. I also feel like over the course of the season, it’s going to be OK if it’s not 19 or 25 [carries per game]. When it’s 10 or 12, that’s OK, too. That’s one thing about Derrick; you’ll never hear him concern himself with that. He wants it — there is no doubt about it — but he wants it because it helps us win, and that’s all he ever talks about.”

Still, the Ravens can’t afford to overwork Henry, either. And that’s where Mitchell could help.

While Hill has been a reliable pass blocker and dynamic receiver this season (career-high 25 catches for 272 yards and two touchdowns), he has not been an especially efficient runner. Hill has 32 carries for 119 yards (3.7 per carry), with just 18 carries for 43 yards since the start of Week 5 (2.4 per carry). According to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats, Hill is averaging 0.5 rushing yards under expected per carry in 2024, a far cry from Henry (2.5 yards over expected per carry).

If Mitchell can recapture his rookie year form, he could be an early-down upgrade. Mitchell averaged 4.3 rushing yards over expected per carry last season, according to NGS, the best mark for any running back in the NFL. He wasn’t just a threat in space but a force after contact, too, averaging an NFL-leading 5.68 yards per contacted rush, according to TruMedia.

In his return to practice, he’s looked like the Mitchell of old, according to teammates.

“If he running and you got to cover him in man, you better get back, because he can fly,” inside linebacker Trenton Simpson told The Baltimore Banner last week. “He got some true speed, like, God-gifted speed.”