Raheem Mostert Got Here the Hard Way

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Seven teams in two seasons. That's how many cities and squads Dolphins running back Raheem Mostert played for in his first two years in the NFL. Most of those stints were short; several were practice-squad only. All that suitcase-packing is a far cry from today, with the 31-year-old running back having tied for the most touchdowns scored this season (21) voted into his first Pro Bowl.

Undrafted out of Purdue in 2015, the Florida native found his on-field footing with San Francisco in 2018. He was initially a special teams guy, but saw more and more playing time at RB under Kyle Shanahan before signing with Miami in March of 2022. He's been lights-out ever since, setting the franchise record this year for touchdowns in a single season.

The married father of three young boys talked to GQ Sports while riding home from the Dolphins facility Wednesday evening, just ahead of Miami's Wild Card matchup against Kansas City on Saturday night.

GQ: So it's 78 degrees in Miami tonight. And you're heading to Kansas City this weekend, where the high on Saturday is 8 degrees. How are you feeling?

Raheem Mostert: It’s worth it, I promise. I think the low is negative 14. The high is 8—I saw it’s supposed to be one of the coldest Chiefs games in history.

You have had such a journey just to get to this point. Do you ever just stop and take a moment to take it all in?

Lately, I’ve been able to just sit back and truly digest everything that has happened—me starting for the first time in the league after being on several different teams in the first two years. Now I’m tied for the most TDs in the league and breaking these records.

Being back home in Florida, just sitting back and looking at myself in the mirror and saying, “I’m so proud of you,” and all the affirmations that you can go through when you are dealing with the path that you are going through. It’s truly remarkable—I just can’t be thankful enough for the people who have been in my corner and the man upstairs and those that have helped me along the way. And the people who helped me mentally to where I am now.

Where did that resilience come from?

It started when I was a kid. I didn’t necessarily have the best home environment, so I used that as fuel. I always saw myself as being more than what was around me. Early on, I witnessed all kinds of stuff: domestic violence, alcoholism and what it means to truly have a father figure in somebody else and not the guy who was there. Everyone learns from their journeys. Early on, I said, “I want to raise my family to be sweet, gentle, kind, I want to be a husband that shows signs of weakness, that isn’t always tough. That shows he truly cares for himself, his family, and his wife.”

My wife and I have been together for so many years now—for me, when you grow up in that environment and that’s all you see, it gives you comfort knowing you aren’t doing those things. I might have a drink here and there, but I don’t take it to the extreme. I have three boys now and I want to raise them as men. I don't want to raise them as disrespecting anybody. When my kids come around, the first thing they do is greet people, say hi, give them a high five. That’s important to me.

Was there ever a time in those early years of your pro career where you thought about giving up football altogether?

Yeah. I was with the Browns at the end of my rookie year, going into my second year, and I was trying to make a roster spot. I ended up making the 53-man roster, and I went out to celebrate that night with my family. The next morning, I got a call from the scouting dept saying, “Hey, come in and bring your iPad.” Once you hear those words, it’s like, I’m getting cut.

That same day, my wife had her bridal shower. So I had to call her father, who was with them, and I had to tell him, “Hey, I just got cut from the Browns.” My [now] wife came home and she’d heard the news from her friends on the team—during the shower, some of the women [married to players] on the team said to her, I'm sorry for Raheem. You ask yourself, where do I go from here? I was just trying to figure it out.

After so many stops and starts in those first two years, why do you think you found your footing with San Francisco?

I was fortunate enough to have coaches like Chip Kelly. He was the Eagles head coach and GM, and I ended up at the Niners with him prior to Kyle [Shanahan] being the head coach. I thank Chip for giving me the opportunity to get back in that position of trying to make the roster and doing all that.

When Kyle and his staff came on board, I was the outlier—I wasn’t their guy. But I ended up finding my way through special teams and doing my due diligence on that front. I actually just called my special teams coach from that time. I was telling him, thank you for giving me the opportunity.

You start doing well on special teams and they start throwing you in the mix at your main position. It was a great journey. I truly appreciate Kyle as well for giving me the opportunity to showcase my talents and build myself up.

I listened to a clip from your Relentlessly Motivated podcast where you talked about a pivotal conversation you had with him. It seems like he asked you a question and then he really listened to your answer.

It was pretty cool because I had just come off a bad game. He brought me in the next morning and we had a one-on-one conversation, and we hashed it out. I said, “I am tired of just getting these B.S. looks in practice and you expect me to go out in a game when the game is on the line when I’m not getting true reps.” That was the most pivotal moment in my career. Because he could’ve just blown me off . But he saw something in me, and he said, “I will go talk to the coaching staff and we will get this right.” It shows the type of guy he is. He listens to his players, if you have any opinion about anything, if you need to voice yourself, he wouldn’t hesitate to take a meeting. He will truly hear you out and take the time to digest what you are saying and make the corrections.

That’s why they are so successful over there—you have a group of guys where he lets those guys do what they want, to take action as a team, be the leaders, and everyone follows suit, and that's what you need in order to win.

You signed with Miami in March of 2022. What was it like to move from playing for Coach Shanahan to Coach McDaniel?

When [Coach McDaniel] first signed with Miami and he was on the jet, I remember him calling me up—I had reached out to him to say, “Congratulations on being named Miami head coach,” and he replied, like, “I’m Miami Mike.” He has that Miami Mike swag now. It’s awesome to see.

When we were at the 49ers, he was the guy behind the scenes as OC and run game coordinator. He did everything in his power to make sure the players felt comfortable about the game plan. You see what is transpiring here right now—all the guys love him. They love how he coaches. He always says, adversity is an opportunity. That’s the case for him—he uses that as motivation and an opportunity to get better. From last year to this year, the growth in him and his play calling, it shows why we are the #1 offense in the league and why we finish top tier in points. Even on the defensive side of the ball, those guys have been able to step up, too. It’s been fun.

Judging by your team's TD celebrations, it looks fun.

Yeah, he started that last year when he first came in. He told everybody, “I don't know what’s happened in the past and I don’t care, but what I want to do now, when you make a play, celebrate. Enjoy that play—you did that.” We took it upon ourselves this year to make it a priority when we score or make a big play—on both sides of the ball. To celebrate and enjoy it with your brothers.

The speedwalking one might be my favorite.

The speedwalking—I think I did that one. Me and Tyreek [Hill] both decided. We wanted to do something like, hand the baton off, but that’s been done. Then we decided, hey, maybe we should speedwalk, and have one guy—honestly Reek improvised and did the whole, “I’m cramping in my hamstring,” and that made it all the more sweet.We did Remember the Titans, I came up with that one. It’s one of those things where you want to get everyone involved. We want everybody to be a part of this thing.

This has been such a big season for you personally. What will you still remember in 20 years about this year?

I will say it’s the record-breaking: the most TDs in Dolphins history. Hopefully that record won’t be broken anytime soon, but I will be looking back at that one.

And what a year Tua has had, especially after last season.

It just shows the type of integrity he has, the time and effort he’s put in this off-season to get his health right. Last year was a very scary situation, not only for him, but the whole organization, and his brothers, watching him go down the way he did. Feeling helpless, like you couldn’t do anything to help him. For him to come back and do things in the off-season like his jiu jitsu, learning how to fall, that played a key role in his success this year. That shows you the type of person he is. He wants to get better and take ownership of his faults. He wants to grow. You can’t ask for a better person in the locker room to handle so much criticism, so many naysayers doubting him—he led the league this year in passing yards. That says a lot.

Has he taught you any jiu jitsu?

No, he hasn’t. Honestly, I saw those guys do that and I was like, “Man, I gotta do that.” I’ve been thinking about what I’ll do this off-season. One of my good friends is Gilbert Burns, an MMA fighter. I told him, “his off-season we’ll be linking up when you’re not fighting.

You grew up in New Smyrna and you're a surfer. Any pro surfer you’d like to ride waves with?

Obviously the GOAT, Kelly Slater—he’s one of my good friends. He’s so chill and cool. He’s the man—I love talking to him, his mentality of how he's approached the surfing world and everything he’s done. One of my other friends is Evan Gieselman—he’s from my hometown. He’s making me a custom surfboard.

You’re a skateboarder, too. Surfing and skateboarding are Olympics sports now—any chance we will see you competing there next?

Honestly, that’s a good question. I need to get prepared for that. I haven’t skateboarded in a while and it’s in my contract that I can’t surf, so I gotta wait.

Who's going to be facing off in the Super Bowl?

I’d love to say us, but we gotta figure this game out this weekend first. For us, it starts with the Chiefs. The Niners have the easier path in the NFC to get there, but honestly, it’s any given Saturday or Sunday for every team.

Who's going to be the MVP?

Christian McCaffrey—I stand firm on that. He’s been lights-out this whole season. 2,000 all-purpose yards, led the league in rushing—he had more carries and ran with it, he’s tied with me for most TDs. Obviously I’d have to say it’s him.

Are you two friends IRL?

We are, actually. We were texting each other every other week, giving each other crap. There's a funny story—his brother Max works with the Dolphins, and I played with Max when I was a 49er. Max was telling me one time how Christian hated these certain cleats. I ended up buying the cleats off of eBay and sending them to him. I told him to use these to slow down, so I could catch him in rushing [laughs]. He was like, “Dude, how could you? Those God-forsaken cleats!” He sent me a picture of them—I told him, “Happy early Merry Christmas.”

You were named to your first Pro Bowl. How does that feel?

RM: In my head, I was like, “About damn time.” [Laughs] Just because I could’ve made it for special teams years ago. But it didn’t work out in my favor. To finally be named to the Pro Bowl for the first time at my position is truly a blessing. I’m on cloud nine, even now thinking about it.

Originally Appeared on GQ