‘Speed demon’ Raheem Mostert is catching the wave in Miami Dolphins revamped offense

This time last year, Raheem Mostert was on crutches, unable to walk without assistance.

A member of the San Francisco 49ers at the time, Mostert sustained a Week 1 knee cartilage injury against the Detroit Lions that was supposed to sideline the running back for several weeks. Mostert, though, eventually underwent season-ending surgery and went on the arduous path of rehabilitation.

“First seven weeks post-surgery, I wasn’t able to walk,” Mostert said. “And that took a lot out of me emotionally, because I’m a running back. I run fast. I run the ball. Everything is always being able to run and capitalize. For the first seven weeks, it was a challenge. And then having my family as well, just trying to take care of them and provide for them, it was all a mental block.

“But moving forward, I was just thinking about the outcome, how sweet it would be to be back on the field and participate in team activities and all the little things that come with it in order for me to get to the regular season.”

Mostert, 30, not only returned for the start of the 2022 season but in recent weeks he’s effectively assumed the role of lead back for the Dolphins (4-3), who will face the Lions (1-5) on the road Sunday. In a Week 5 loss to the New York Jets, Mostert ran for 113 yards, his most since a 220-yard performance in the 2019 NFC Championship Game.

Though Mostert is still working his way back after essentially one year away from the game, teammates and coaches say he’s already resembling the running back who is arguably the fastest player in the NFL.

“Raheem is a speed demon,” said fullback Alec Ingold, “and it’s just so smooth when you watch him work, week in week out, day in, day out.”

In the Dolphins’ Week 7 home win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mostert scored Miami’s lone touchdown, off an 8-yard catch on the opening drive. Once he reached the end zone, Mostert dove belly-first onto the ground, making a swimming motion with his hands and jumping onto his feet as if he was riding a surfboard.

The touchdown celebration is a nod to Mostert’s roots growing up in New Smyrna Beach, which is located on the central east coast of Florida, about 50 miles northeast of Orlando. Mostert surfboarded in one of the top surf towns in the nation, dubbed the “shark-bite capital of the world.”

“I didn’t have a stable lifestyle,” he said. “My parents, I couldn’t count on them at times but I grew up in a place where you’ve just got to work hard.” As a teen, Mostert not only surfboarded but also played football and ran track.

“I love it because it gets me away from everything,” he said of surfboarding. “I’m on the ocean, just me by myself and me with a couple buddies, just trying to learn little techniques. I’m trying to pick up things that they’re doing. And just being one with the ocean, I think that was very appealing to me the most.”

Mostert and Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said they see similarities in surfboarding and playing running back.

“We say, ‘press every run one gap at a time,’ and it’s kind of like riding a wave — surfing,” McDaniel said. “Because you’re taking it right there and then all of a sudden you go downhill, but then the wave takes you back out.”

One day, Mostert was approached by an agent from Billabong, a surfing apparel company, with a sponsorship offer. But playing in waves was just a hobby; his passions were track and football — sports where he was a standout at New Smyrna Beach High School. Mostert won district titles as a hurdler and sprinter, and he was also a dynamic wide receiver and kick returner.

Mostert committed to Purdue University, drawn to the school after a visit with former NFL safety Ricardo Allen, who is a Boilermaker and from nearby Daytona Beach. Allen now works as a special teams assistant with the Dolphins.

At Purdue, Mostert found a role as a return specialist before moving to running back as a junior. He also won Big Ten titles as a sprinter in the 60-meter, 100-meter and 200-meter races. He became the first member of his family to graduate college.

Mostert wasn’t selected in the 2015 NFL Draft. He spent the next few years bouncing from team to team, primarily as a returner. He had short stints with a half-dozen teams, including the Dolphins — right when current Lions coach Dan Campbell was named interim coach in Miami — before he caught on with the 49ers in 2016. Mostert spent the next five seasons in San Francisco alongside McDaniel, who served as run game coordinator before being elevated to offensive coordinator.

Frequent injuries limited his role. But when he was healthy, Mostert was one of the most efficient and explosive backs in the league. He ran for a career-high 772 yards in 2019 for a 49ers team that advanced to the Super Bowl. Mostert’s 5.39 yards per rush average is the most in NFL history among running backs with 250 career attempts.

“It was just the time aspect, and me knowing that my time was coming,” Mostert said. “Whether I believed it or not, I believed wholeheartedly that I deserved to be in the league and I deserved to play and I am going to be an NFL running back and I was going to do great things. I’ve always wanted to chase a gold jacket. I guess that also helped me. But my wife, she helped me. She’s an individual that is very strong-minded and strong-willed, so credit to her, she helped me through a lot of things.”

Though Mostert’s yearlong absence last season meant he only played in nine games the last two years, he signed a one-year, $2 million deal with the Dolphins in the opening week of free agency. The fact that cornerback Xavien Howard underwent a similar knee procedure gave Mostert the confidence he would be able to return to his pre-injury form.

And despite the severity of the injury — in a July tweet, Mostert said he was told he “may never step on the field again” — he was cleared to practice in training camp.

The Dolphins were expected to divvy the workload in the backfield after also signing Chase Edmonds. But with Mostert’s familiarity with the outside zone scheme and hard running, he has taken the majority of the snaps in the backfield recently. Mostert leads the team with 388 rushing yards and has been the primary kick returner.

The Dolphins’ revamped offense has yet to truly take off — and that includes a running game that ranks 29th in yards per game. Part of the key to unlocking their potential lies in Mostert continuing to feel like his old self. And that may mean getting to showcase his track speed in the open field. Mostert’s top speed of 22.73 miles per hour in 2020 remains the fastest for a ball carrier since 2018.

“I’m at like 20 miles per hour,” Mostert said of his top speed in a game this season. “I’ve been finessing and finagling my way through the line and trying to break something.”