Mostert Excited for Possibilities Full Year Back from Injury

By all accounts, Raheem Mostert had a very successful 2023 season for the Miami Dolphin and he can't wait to pick up where he left off.

"I'm excited," Mostert said Tuesday. "I'm so excited, guys. You all really have no idea."

What has Mostert so jacked up, and what should make Dolphins fans optimistic, is that he's now a full season removed from the knee injury he sustained in the 2021 opener when he was a member of the San Francisco 49ers.

Mostert not only led the Dolphins in rushing with 891 yards last season, he tied his career high with 16 games to go along with a career-high 14 starts.

His highlights included 100-yard performances against the New York Jets in Week 5 and in the Saturday night game against the Buffalo Bills in Week 15 when he had a season-long 67-yard run.

He also finished with a healthy 4.9-yard average, along with adding 31 catches.

What the numbers will look like in 2023 remain to be seen — and this also assumes the Dolphins don't add Dalvin Cook — but he was encouraged by an offseason conversation with Mike McDaniel where the head coach told him he wanted to make a bigger commitment to the running game next season.

"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 my ways, and I started picking those things up towards the end of the season," Mostert said. "He realized that too early on I wasn't technically myself, just because I had that in the back of my mind. But once you gain that confidence in yourself, especially coming back off an injury is definitely eye-opening. Once the season ends, and then you reflect and now I'm like, hey, look, you got one full year, being healthy. Now it's time to ride, I'm ready to go."

MOSTERT LOOKS FOR BIGGER ROLE

Mostert's 891 yards represented a career high, topping the 772 he gained for the 49ers in 2019, but he's looking to play an even bigger role in the passing game.

That was a big part of his offseason focus, and that included pitch-and-catch sessions with Tua Tagovailoa and others.

"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," Mostert said. "I'm just solely based off of just focusing on that."

The biggest thing for Mostert, though, is his health.

At this time last year, he still was working his way back from the 2022 knee injury.

This summer, it's all about trying to become an even bigger factor on offense.

"When you come back from an injury, the first couple of months it's almost a mental game," Mostert said. "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 re-injure 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 see the towards the end of the year, I was starting to gain more confidence. Even Coach Studes (Eric Studesville) mentioned that too. A lot of errors I was making early on, and then I started honing in on my craft a little bit more, feeling more comfortable. And then it was time to go.

"But coming into Year 2 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."

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