San Francisco 49ers running back Raheem Mostert burst onto the scene in 2019, his fifth season in the NFL. He bounced around the league, mostly contributing on special teams, before landing with the 49ers toward the end of the 2016 season.
It wasn't until last season that Mostert was allowed to show fans what he can do on the football field. While he didn't start a single game, he was clearly the team's featured back during postseason play.
Mostert rushed his way to 772 yards on 137 carries with eight touchdowns during the regular season. It was his playoff performance in the NFC Championship Game against the Green Bay Packers, however, that made people really take notice. Mostert, an undrafted player out of Purdue in 2015, rushed for 220 yards on 29 carries against the Packers defense, nearly single-handedly pushing the 49ers to a 37-20 victory and a Super Bowl berth.
Mostert believes the best is yet to come and hopes to one day end his career in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
"[The performance] really opened up my eyes," Mostert said Tuesday on the Pat McAfee Show. "[I said], 'Hey look, I did this. Why stop? Just keep going. Keep doing the right things, the necessary things in order to be great.'
"That's something I want to be, man. I want to be able to have a gold jacket, and the only way to do that is to be great."
#49ers Raheem Mostert @RMos_8Ball reflects on the NFC championship and shares his football mindset #PatMcAfeeShowLIVE pic.twitter.com/GyDl5a06x0
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) April 14, 2020
Mostert has averaged 6.0 yards per carry over his career and averaged 5.6 last season. If he keeps that up, he may find himself on track to reach his goal. Of course, it would help his case to win a Super Bowl along the way, which is the ultimate goal for the Niners, and one they fell short of this past season.
"One of the things [Kyle Shanahan and the coaches] told us (after the Super Bowl loss) is we're not going to have the same team next year," Mostert continued. "There's going to be some different pieces moving around, but the guys that did experience that, it's one of those things that we've just got to continue to build off of and do what we've got to do in order to get back there and to win."
