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Raheem Mostert knew that—after seven years of fighting to stay in the NFL, and with just a month left in his 20s, and coming off a season-ending knee injury in 2021—his free agency in ’22 could be his final bite of the financial apple as a pro football player. So he, like any guy in his situation, was aware of the stakes.
And, of course, money was going to be a factor.
But he also had an idea of whose offense he wanted to play in when his eighth season commenced. And it didn’t take long for Mike McDaniel to affirm the reasons for it. Mostert struck a one-year deal to follow the new Miami coach from San Francisco, choosing the Dolphins over, among other options, returning to the Niners.
“We had a long, extensive conversation,” Mostert told me Sunday night, as he was winding down after a wild afternoon at Hard Rock Stadium. “That led to not the signing; it was after the signing. But I truly believed in him, that he would get the job done and we could do great things together. And I knew he was gonna need some help, just implementing this offense and having guys that understand and everything like that. So, yeah.”
So here we are a year and a half later, and the result of that conversation is more than a very optimistic Mostert could’ve possibly imagined.
What’s really wild about what the 31-year-old tailback and his teammates pulled off Sunday is how, coming in, the Dolphins were first in the NFL in total offense, yards per play, passing offense, yards per pass play, and second in first downs. And, somehow, even with all that already established, this sleepy early kickoff against Sean Payton, Russell Wilson and the Broncos would be the afternoon that would serve as Miami’s breakthrough.
It also served notice to the rest of the league what McDaniel is capable of with the arsenal he and Miami GM Chris Grier have assembled.
When the clock expired, and the Dolphins were done throwing haymakers, the scoreboard read 70–20, and Miami had become the first team since to break the 70-point barrier, had rolled up the second-most yards in a game (726) in NFL history and most since Harry S. Truman was president, and had become the first team to rush for 350 yards and throw for 350 yards in the same game.
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McDaniel would be the first to tell you it’s not him. And with Tua Tagovailoa playing like an MVP candidate, Tyreek Hill looking as good as ever, and Jaylen Waddle (who, remarkably, didn’t even play against Denver) developing into a star, he’s right about that. But he’s also getting the most out of those guys, the same way he is with veterans such as Braxton Berrios, River Cracraft and Durham Smythe.
And Mostert, too, just the way the old back knew he would.
