Raheem Mostert – September 21, 2023
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Thursday, September 21, 2023
RB Raheem Mostert
(On playing the running back position at age 31) – “I’m truly blessed about it just because I didn’t get that tread on me early on. So it actually saved me and I feel like it just helped prolong my career a little bit longer and I’m truly happy about that.”
(You weren’t happy back then though, were you?) – “At that point though, I was just an undrafted guy just trying to make a roster and pretty much a special teams guy, so I did get my opportunity. And one thing that I did learn when I was young was when you do get that opportunity, don’t look back. That’s something that Darren Sproles taught me when I was a rookie for the Eagles. He was like, ‘Hey look, a lot of people are going to say a lot of different things about you that you can’t play, you’re too small, you don’t have a big enough heart, you don’t have a lion’s instinct; but you’ve got to be true to yourself.’ And that was the case for me even when I was on several different teams my first two years.”
(Talking about making the most of the opportunity when it comes, how much pride do you take in your average yards per carry? You’re one of the NFL leaders in that.) – “I don’t necessarily look at it like that. I just go out there and play. The pride that I get is from winning, from my teammates being happy that I had a good game. The yards per carry, they’ll take care of itself. I know that I am up there in the league in NFL history, but I try not to look at those things. I just try to solely focus on the game itself.”
(When the 49ers first started giving you a chance to run the ball a lot in the 2018 range, initially were you fueled by the chip on your shoulder of four or five teams not knowing how good a runner you were and does that still fuel you now or is that old news?) – “That still fuels me to this day. I still have that list of the teams that cut me, that didn’t give me an opportunity, including the Dolphins at the time; but all is forgiven. (laughter) But you just have to look at it as a positive. I did get my opportunity when I was with the Niners and like I said, I can’t look back. I try to just pride myself just on maintaining, making sure that I’m doing all the little things, not listening to the outside world because if you let the outside world get ahead of you or get you distracted, then you’re not really focused on your own personal goals. So I know my goals. I know where I want to get in life. I know where I want to get with my football career and it’s still attainable in my eyes.”
(Is that list written down? Is it in a bookshelf? On a wall?) – “It’s right up here. I think of it every day and that’s to be a gold jacket candidate. I know that it looks like a longshot, but that still doesn’t stop me from my mentality.”
(Are you ready for a pop quiz? I was going to ask you, name the teams in order that have cut you.) – “Yeah, I can do that. Philly, Dolphins, Baltimore, Cleveland, following year Cleveland, Jets, Chicago, Niners and now I’m here.”
(So Cleveland got two shots at you?) – “Well, Cleveland had me at the end of the year and then I started the roster with them, made the 53-man roster. Actually, that was the same day my wife had her bridal shower, as I got cut. So if you can only imagine that phone call that I had with her dad, because he was the one that was hosting, helping her event. I’ll never forget, I was sitting at the couch in our apartment and gave him that call. I said ‘hey man look, I don’t know how to tell you this, I don’t even want to tell the ladies, but I just got cut by the Browns.’ The first thing he said was don’t worry about it, we’re going to talk about this when the girls get done with the bridal shower because that would have just ruined their day. But yeah, we had that conversation and that’s actually the pivotal moment in my career, when I asked my wife on our couch, ‘what should I do?’ Because I had just got cut by several different teams prior too. She asked me, ‘how much do I truly love football?’ I told her, ‘I mean, I’ve played this sport since I was seven.’ She was like, ‘well, I don’t see what’s stopping you now.’ That was a pivotal moment for me.”
(What would you do if you didn’t do that?) – “Who knows? I mean, only time will tell on that case. But I’m thankful that we did have that conversation.”
(Over the last five years, what head coach, running backs coach or general manager who was involved in cutting you has come up to you and said something like ‘we made a mistake?’) – “I’m not going to name any specifics because that’s just not what I do.”
(It’s petty?) – “Yeah, that’s little petty. (laughter) But I’ve had several people in personnel departments and other teams come up to me if I was playing them that week, truly apologize. They really felt like they made a mistake. All is forgiven, truthfully. But you still have to have that dog mentality. Like, hey, you thought I wasn’t good enough? Well, I’ve got to run for 200 on you today. That’s just something that you have to do. But like I said, all is forgiven. I’m not really holding no grudges or anything like that. But you still have to keep that in the back of your mind that that was that possibility.”
(Was there ever a time when you thought, well, maybe I’m done with the NFL? Maybe it’s not for me anymore?) – “When I had that question with my wife, at the time, she told me how much do you truly love the sport? I told her I’ve been playing ever since I was seven. She basically gave me like, well you need to keep playing. At that moment, any thought of me quitting or giving up just null and void it. It was just more so, hey I need to go out here and I need to do what I need to do. If I want to be great, I have to go out there and chase my dreams.”
(How good did it feel to get to 100 yards and win the game the other night with a long touchdown?) – “It felt great. Especially the fact that it was a team win, we’re 2-0 and we’re looking forward to Denver now. We’re trying to get to 3-0.”
(21.62 miles per hour.) – “Yeah, I could have went faster. Tyreek (Hill) would have been upset. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. (laughter)”
(Did you get touched on that?) – No, I didn’t get touched either. I tell them all the time, it’s easy to be the receiver and running 20-something miles an hour. Anybody can do that in their sleep if they’re fast. Especially on a go-ball. But come down in them trenches where you have to make cuts and then hit it. It’s a little bit different. (laughter)”
(WR Tyreek Hill probably see things a little differently.) – “Yeah, no, he definitely does. (laughter)”
