“This guy is absolutely insane in the open field”: 49ers rave about new Dolphin Mostert
We’ve shared nuggets and insight on new Dolphins Cedrick Wilson Jr. and Chase Edmonds in recent days, with pieces on Teddy Bridgewater and Connor Williams posting in the days ahead. (And perhaps Terron Armstead, if that deal comes to fruition.)
Some tidbits and feedback on what the Dolphins are getting with new running back Raheem Mostert:
▪ Pro Football Focus rated Mostert its sixth-best running back in 2019 and 14th-best in 2020. He had only two carries last season (for 20 yards) before sustaining a season-ending knee injury, and his doctor (Dallas-based Dan Cooper) said his recovery is the best he’s ever seen from a player who had that cartilage procedure.
His former 49ers teammates rave about him.
“This guy is just absolutely insane in the open field, extremely explosive,” Pro Bowl fullback Kyle Juszczyk told the Fantasy Footballers podcast last April. “Nobody can catch him. It’s ridiculous. Like, the angles these safeties try to take on him, and he still will leave them in the dust.”
Former 49ers tackle Joe Staley said: “He’s so fast, and he’s fearless going through the hole. He’s a great running back.”
49ers left tackle Trent Williams told TheIamAthlete podcast: “To me, he’s the new age Chris Johnson. Ain’t nobody in the NFL who was a faster ball carrier miles per hour than Raheem. Not a single... player. Over 23 miles per hour.”
In the 2020 season, Mostert reached the two fastest speeds by an NFL ball-carrier: 23.1 miles per hour on an 80-yard TD in Week 2 and 22.7 mph on a 76-yard TD run in Week 1, per Next Gen Stats.
Mostert timed at 4.38 in the 40 before his injury. “We wanted to build a team built on speed,” 49ers general manager John Lynch said. “Raheem had it.”
▪ Cooper has been very encouraged by Mostert’s recovery and expects him to be fine for the start of the season.
The Dolphins are also optimistic. Mostert thrived in San Francisco when new Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel was the 49ers run game coordinator (2018-2020).
When Mostert was healthy, he was excellent, averaging 5.7 yards per carry, highest among active backs if he had enough carries to qualify. That average also is highest among all NFL backs with at least 200 carries since 2018.
Also impressive: He has averaged 3.2 yards after contact in his career.
For perspective, the only running backs (minimum 100 carries) who averaged more than 3.2 yards after contact last season were Rashaad Penny, Nick Chubb, Jonathan Taylor, Tony Pollard, D’Ernest Johnson, Elijah Mitchell, Michael Carter and Derrick Henry.
But also keep this in mind: His yards after contact has dropped from 3.5 in 2018, to 2.2 in 2019 to 1.7 to 2020.
But he also produced a lot of yards before contact: 4.2 average in 2018, 3.5 in 2019 and 3.3 in 2020.
That’s partly a byproduct of the 49ers’ outstanding offensive line but also a byproduct of his ability to make defenders miss.
▪ During his three excellent years in San Francisco (2018-2020), he played 15, 34 and 43 percent of the 49ers’ offensive snaps.
So he’s best used in a rotation, which will be the likely scenario in Miami – in tandem with Edmonds and potentially Myles Gaskin.
The Edmonds/Mostert duo can be “explosive, game-changing for us,” Edmonds said.
Mostert - who’s 5-10 and 210 pounds - carried 34, 137 and 104 times during those three seasons (2018-2020). With only 284 career carries, he should have a lot left in the tank.
FYI: He has six fumbles in those 284 career rushing attempts.
▪ He bounced around on six different teams (including a month with the Dolphins) before flourishing with the 49ers. Miami lost him in 2015 when Baltimore poached him as the Dolphins were trying to move him to the practice squad.
He appeared in only one game for the Dolphins; he didn’t have a rushing attempt but returned two kickoffs for 57 yards.
“Crazy how full circle it can be; I’ve always believed in myself,” he said this week.
▪ What’s notable is that he did not get a single carry for any of the six teams that signed him before his career took off with the 49ers.
He played in 13 games for Cleveland, Miami, Baltimore and Chicago and touched the ball only on returns.
He was a Big Ten champion in track but had only 759 career rushing yards on 136 carries in four years at Purdue. Then he spent time on five NFL practice squads. So he has often been overlooked.
▪ Mostert, who grew up in New Smyrna Beach, has averaged 24.2 yards on 26 kickoff returns but hasn’t returned one since 2019.
▪ Here’s how Casey Sulley succinctly explained why Mostert is such a good fit in the Kyle Shanahan/McDaniel wide-zone running scheme:
“Mostert’s mix of power, explosion, and one cut style of running fits perfectly with the system. He’s incredibly disciplined and rarely if ever misses a hole, tries to bounce outside unnecessarily, or takes bad initial tracks. He runs the plays exactly as they are meant to be run and has all the physical tools to be successful.”
We recommend Sulley’s 2020 piece if you want to understand how McDaniel’s running scheme works.
▪ Mostert also is dangerous as a receiver, averaging 10.0 yards on 36 career catches. He averaged an impressive 11.1 and 8.5 yards after the catch in 2019 and 2020.
▪ During Mostert’s 49ers tenure, Kyle Shanahan marveled at his productivity:
“I mean, how many games can you go and how many years can you go averaging six yards a carry?... He’s been extremely impressive…Hopefully he gets the credit for what he does when he’s out there, because he’s been a big deal for us.”
▪ Mostert’s signature moment was his 29-carry, 220-yard, four-touchdown rushing performance in the 2020 NFC Championship game win against Green Bay.
“Everyone in this room roots for Raheem,” Juszczyk said after that game. “He just needed someone to believe in him, and he found that here.”
▪ Chip Kelly, now UCLA’s coach, recommended that the 49ers sign Mostert in 2016 when Kelly was San Francisco’s coach. That’s how Mostert ended up with the 49ers.
“I said, ‘Grab him,’ ” Kelly told the Los Angeles Times’ Jeff Miller. “I loved him so much. I knew he had huge upside. He just needed a chance.
“He’s got a gift from God in terms of his speed. But it’s his mindset that I love the most. He wasn’t going to be defeated. He always worked hard and stayed positive.
“A lot of guys, they get cut two or three times and they’re done. They say, ‘You know, I’m going to try something else.’ They don’t have the persistence. This is a story about believing in yourself, sometimes when no one else believes in you.”
But he carried only 41 times in his first 2 ½ seasons with the 49ers before he got his chance and seized on it.
This is part 3 of my in-depth series on the Dolphins’ significant newcomers.
Here’s part 1 on Cedrick Wilson Jr.
Here’s part 2 on Chase Edmonds.
This story was originally published March 22, 2022 at 4:32 PM.
