Raheem Mostert – July 25, 2023
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Tuesday, July 25, 2023
RB Raheem Mostert
(We just heard from CB Jalen Ramsey asking him about Madden ratings. It doesn’t matter to him because he’s going to boost up to 99 anyways. Are you going to have to the touch of speed up?) – “I guess that’s the case. I tweeted at EA (Electronic Arts), probably what, two days ago or yesterday? Just basically saying like, ‘Hey, do I exist?’, and they sent back an image under my reply, like, a picture of the top 10 running backs. I’m like, no, no, no, that’s not what I mean, I want to be a top-10 overall. But it’s all good. Once you show that speed in-game, that’s when the adjusters come. I’m going to be talking to Chad (Johnson) hopefully here soon.”
(At the end of last year, you said, when you talked to Head Coach Mike McDaniel at the end of the season, and he said he wanted to run the ball more, did you get that in writing?) – “I should have gotten it in writing honestly, but no we had talked and it was a great conversation. I personally took on the challenge of being more of a productive back, just because last year, I was coming off of a knee injury, and then having to settle back in my ways, and I started picking those things up towards the end of the season. He realized that too. Early on, I wasn’t technically myself, just because like I said, I had that in the back of my mind. But once you gain that confidence in yourself, especially coming back off an injury, it’s definitely eye opening. Once the season ends, and you reflect and now I’m like, hey, look, I got one full year being healthy. Now it’s time to ride. I’m ready to go. Just having that conversation with him was definitely enlightening.”
(Players say in the second year coming back from that knee injury, they feel like themselves. So was it at the end of the year you started to feel like yourself? Or what are your expectations for year two?) – “When you come back from an injury, the first couple of months is almost a mental game. And that was the case for me, I was in a little bit of a slump, because I didn’t know if I was going to reinjure it, if the game was going to be a different pace than I’m anticipating or normal. But once you start getting that groove and feeling yourself, I mean you saw it towards the end of the year, I was starting to gain more confidence. Even you know, Coach (Studesville) mentioned that too. A lot of errors I was making early on and now I started honing in on my craft a little bit more, feeling more comfortable and then it was time to go. But like you said, coming into year two is definitely a little bit easier. Especially the fact that I’m not thinking about the knee. My focus now is solely on improving my game and how can I be elite at the top, upper echelon of the running back game. So that’s my main focus now.”
(Raheem, just kind of piggybacking off that. You mentioned this offseason, you don’t have to worry about rehab. So what does that growth been like for you like for you?) – “The growth has been unbelievable, just being back, running full speed, taking advantage of the opportunities that I have off the field during the offseason and really just honing in on myself and my abilities. I’ve been involved in the pass game throughout my career, but now I’m starting to really see myself being more of that elite pass catcher just solely based off of just focusing on that. It’s very enlightening. Like I said, I’m excited. I’m so excited guys. You really have no idea.”
(The team drafted RB De’Von Achane and you were really open to bring him in and taking him under your wings. Now there is talk of even adding another running back in RB Dalvin Cook. What would you think if the backfield got even more crowded?) – “When I was in San Francisco, we brought in Tevin Coleman, Jerick McKinnon and Matt Breida just to name a few guys. They’re all starters, they’re all elite guys. And they’ve all made unbelievable plays in their career. Just to add somebody like Dalvin would be good in the backfield. But at the end of the day, it’s more so about what’s on the team right now, the guys that we got to work with, and just be better as a group. It will always be a bonus to add a running back in. We all learn and piggyback off each other. You see what happened last year, when we added Jeff Wilson to the mix, you see how the game went for both of us in the in the running back room. So a lot has come from the value of adding another running back, it’s more of a running back group than rather than going against each other because we’re all on the same team at the end of the day. That’s the approach that you have to have and be a professional about it when you bring in somebody.”
(You guys obviously added a few pieces in the running back room and on the offensive line, but by and large, the same running back room back from last year, same starting lineup from the opening day offensive line is back again. How does the continuity of all those guys being back together for a second year benefit the offense?) – “The continuity is just going to get more and more explosive and you’re going to see, even with a guy like Tua (Tagovailoa), him settling in for his second year. I know, in previous years, he had a new offensive coordinator every year he’s been in the league, but to be able to finally hone-in on the second go round on the offense, I mean, the sky’s the limit. I’ve been in situations where I’ve had an offensive coordinator come in and then be gone the next year, and then another offensive coordinator come in, and next thing you know, he’s here for another year and just revamped, the offense just got better and moved more fluidly. I trust (Head Coach) Mike (McDaniel) that he’s going to get the job done and call the correct plays and doing what he has to do, as both the head coach and the coordinator and Frank (Smith) and everybody else on the offensive side of the ball. So the continuity is going to be there, it’s going to be great. I already know it. I’m truly excited about it.”
(This is your second year with QB Tua Tagovailoa. You worked out with him in the offseason. What have you seen in terms of growth from a leadership standpoint from him?) – The growth and leadership standpoint, he’s natural at that. But now he’s starting to take on that role of truly getting everybody in the right position, doing what he has to do. I was throwing with him a couple of weeks ago, with a lot of different guys. He was just on point, just the way he tried to have everybody aligned and made sure that ‘Hey, look, Raheem, I know you don’t play this position all that much wide out, but you have to be right here at this point so that way, when you break in or have an in-breaking route, then I can throw you the ball right on time.’ Just to see the maturity in a guy like Tua man, he knows that he wants to be on point. He knows that he wants to be a great quarterback in this league. And he’s doing everything in his in his power to do that and make it happen.”
(Going back to Head Coach Mike McDaniel, over the years that you’ve worked together. What are some things that you notice about how he approaches an offseason, and how he comes out of an offseason? Does he tend to maybe obsess over things that went wrong the year before?) – “With Mike, the beautiful thing about him is he’s going to look back at the season from last year. He knows everything that he did that was not his best work, and he’s going to readjust and do everything he possibly can to not make that same mistake twice. That’s the saying that he uses a lot. ‘I don’t want to make the same mistake twice.’ So in year two, being a head coach, I think that you’re going to see a lot of a lot of different changes with him, more so dialing in on different aspects of the game. He’s very intelligent, as you could tell. He understands the game a lot and he’s going to be working his tail off to make sure that he gets all the guys in the right position to win. I know that from firsthand and seeing it, when we were in San Fran together, to now. He’s going to make those corrections and he’s going to get on the same page with everybody.”
(Speaking about that firsthand experience, any specific memory come to mind of something that you just saw him change over the offseason?) – “There was a game where I know he will be on the plane, and me and him would talk. I would go up to him because as a friend of mine, and I would just talk to him on the plane, we’d have a long ride or whatever. I would ask him what are your thoughts not only on the run game, but overall? And a few instances where he was just like, ‘I made a couple bad decisions, I made a couple bad calls on my end and I can’t put you guys in that position.’ Which is understandable, as a head coach, but then you also have to look at as a player aspect too. If you call a certain play, you expect that play to be executed, regardless of the situation. For both of us, I know that is very important to him that he really wants to adjust and grow and mature in that aspect of not making those mistakes, and that’s what he’s been able to do so far.”
(There was recently a Zoom call among running backs talking about your role in the game. I’m wondering what you think about the running backs role league-wide financially, the running backs role league-wide on the field and the running backs role specifically in this offense? Because you talked about Head Coach Mike McDaniel wanting to run more.) – “It’s a very touchy subject right now, especially in the position of the running backs. This game is evolving, more so than ever, into a pass game. And you have to look at it as hey, look, this is something that we have to adjust to, but at the same time, we still understand our value. As you could tell, you can see what’s going on with all the different running backs not being paid the way they’re supposed to be, which is unfortunate, but I think it’s definitely one of those points where you do have to make a stand. I mean, think about other positions in the league that back in the day, they were nonexistent. Receivers were definitely that case, and now they’re being blown up in the aspect of being important in the offense and vice versa. So, in regards to the running back, we do have to do a lot. It’s definitely sad that it has to be at this point, but it’s understandable too just because the game is evolving. If you see what we are able to do, we’re the ones that are taking the hits. We’re the ones that are blocking guys that are two-three-four times bigger than us. And we’re also running the ball and catching out of the backfield and being in a position where we have to run routes too out of the slot. The value of the running back position is definitely going down. But it’s time for teams to make a stand and guys like us to make a stand that is definitely an important (part of the) game because when the pass game is nonexistent, who are they going to lean on? That’s just a question that you have to ask yourself and it’s definitely the run game. I was a receiver once. That’s my natural position. I understand the receivers’ aspect as well. But in this league right now, you definitely have to value the running backs and it has to happen, so something has to change.”
(Did you see OL Connor Williams come in today and if so, how nice was it to see your center after he wasn’t around for offseason workouts?) – “Yeah, I saw Connor and it was exciting just because I want to see all my guys out here. All the guys should be out here but if it holds true and guys feel like they need to do whatever they have to do, then so be it. But it was good to see Connor out here. He’s definitely a bright, bright guy in this offense and he’s a key aspect to it.”
