Understanding the effects of shallow behaviour is necessary for accurate kinematic predictions of drag anchors since original methods are mostly based only on deep failure mechanisms. Therefore, shallow flow channel-soil interactions characterized by varying tangential and normal bearing factors are used in plasticity analysis (PA) to capture the distinct shallow behaviour of the anchor. To provide a comparison, using the coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian (CEL) finite element method combined with the VUAMP subroutine to incorporate the mooring chain effect, the embedment of the drag anchor under the tension of the mooring chain is simulated. With a constant soil strength profile, the CEL results on the variation of drag force, rotation angle, and anchor trajectory agree well with calculations of PA that are mature for deeply embedded anchors. However, for shallow depths, similar results to the CEL can only be gained from PA considering shallow fluke-soil interactions. The effects of soil strength flow during installation, soil stability, soil sensitivity and fluke width are also investigated.