‘I couldn’t be prouder’: Wilson, Mostert share undrafted bond to give Dolphins 1-2 punch
On the day the San Francisco 49ers got ready to make their final cuts ahead of the 2018 NFL season, Jeff Wilson Jr. and Raheem Mostert sat together in Mostert’s car, and shared a moment of understanding.
More than four years before they reunited with the Miami Dolphins, Mostert and Wilson shared a connection as running backs for the 49ers. Mostert ground through the undrafted lifestyle for two years and four different teams before finally sticking as a full-time NFL player with San Francisco, and he knew Wilson, an undrafted rookie at the time, might be in for the same thing.
“That was definitely a little minute ago,” Wilson said, “but it’s something I can’t forget.”
The 49ers did cut Wilson, but the advice he got from Mostert — as simple as it was — helped him eventually become a true NFL tailback, too.
After both left San Francisco for South Florida in the last eight months, the Dolphins (7-3) are reaping the benefits.
Miami gashed the Cleveland Browns for 195 yards on the ground Sunday — its most in a single game this season — to romp its way to a 39-17 win at Hard Rock Stadium.
Wilson, in just his second game with the Dolphins since they gave the 49ers a fifth-round pick to add him right before the trade deadline Nov. 1, ran 17 times for 119 yards and a touchdown, and Mostert added eight carries for 65 yards and a touchdown, too.
Wilson also had two catches for 24 yards and Mostert had four for 22.
Both have scored touchdowns in each of their games since being reunited in Miami-Dade County.
“For him to come in and play the role that he’s doing,” said Mostert, who signed with the Dolphins as a free agent in March, “I can’t be any prouder.”
Said Wilson: “It wasn’t even advice that he gave me. It was the genuine love that he gave because it’s hard to get that in this league. ... It’s very hard to find genuine, genuine love.”
Mostert kept his words of wisdom basic.
“Keep your head down and keep grinding because it’s going to pay off,” he said, but it stuck with Wilson and the halfback was starting games for the 49ers before his rookie season was even over.
This weekend, he topped 100 rushing yards for the fifth time in his career to power Miami’s best rushing performance of the year.
Even as Wilson doubled Mostert in snaps this week, both tailbacks insist there’s no competition because of the bond they shared back in California, not coincidentally with coach Mike McDaniel as their run game coordinator and, later, offensive coordinator.
“I’m just happy for him,” Mostert said. “I saw him when he was just crawling in the league and now he’s blossoming, he’s doing unbelievable things and we feast off each other.”
So far, there have been plenty of opportunities for both, anyway.
Eight of the Dolphins’ first 11 plays against the Browns (3-6) went to the running backs, with fullback Alec Ingold capping the opening drive with a 13-yard touchdown catch to tie the game at 7-7.
Miami took a 17-7 lead into halftime and then iced the game on the ground in the second half. The Dolphins got the ball to start the third quarter, then gave it to their running backs on 5 of 6 plays to start the third, with Mostert pushing the lead to 24-7 with a 24-yard touchdown run.
In the fourth quarter, Miami put away the win by forcing a turnover on downs at Cleveland’s 20-yard line and then immediately getting a 20-yard touchdown run from Wilson.
For both, it’s a long way from being unwanted.
The wait has been worth it, especially since they’re doing it together.
“That was very difficult to me, but that would be very difficult for any player, especially when you put so much work into something and that’s kind of what he saw, and that’s why I’m glad he was there,” Wilson said. “God has mysterious ways of working, so to put him in my life at that time — that was the prime example that I needed to see.”
