Mostert out for entire season
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — The season of one of the NFL’s fastest running backs has ended in a flash.
The 49ers’ Raheem Mostert said Tuesday via social media that he will have season-ending knee surgery. The news came a day after head coach Kyle Shanahan said Mostert would have arthroscopic surgery to repair chipped knee cartilage and would be sidelined for eight weeks.
Mostert was injured early in the first quarter of Sunday’s season-opening win at Detroit, exiting after he had gained 20 yards on two carries.
Mostert said he consulted with doctors before deciding to have the procedure that will sideline him until 2022 but offered no specifics on his injury.
“I’m gutted,” Mostert wrote. “This sucks! This is obviously not what I worked so hard for. I wish more than anything I could be out there on the field
with my brothers.”
Mostert, who is in the final year of his contract, missed eight games last season with a knee injury and high ankle sprain, and missed the final seven games of 2018 with a broken arm. The 49ers bolstered the position in the offseason by drafting two running backs — Trey Sermon (third round) and Elijah Mitchell (sixth round) — for the first time since 1991. They also have
JaMycal Hasty and are expecting Jeff Wilson (knee), who had a team-high 600 rushing yards last year, to return midseason.
On Tuesday, the 49ers placed Mostert on injured reserve and signed running back Kerryon Johnson to their practice squad. Johnson, a 2018 second-round pick of the Lions, was waived by Detroit in May after he had 1,225 yards and averaged 4.3 yards in three seasons. He was claimed by the Eagles, who released Johnson with an injury designation in
August when he was dealing with a knee issue.
Mitchell figures to assume Mostert’s lead-back duties Sunday against the Eagles after he had 104 yards on 19 carries and scored a 38-yard touchdown in his absence. Mostert’s injury means Sermon will make his NFL debut in Philadelphia after he was surprisingly among the 49ers’ inactive players in Week 1.
Mostert entered the season with 1,236 yards rushing and 15 total touchdowns in his past 16 appearances, including the playoffs, averaging 5.6 yards a carry.
“When you see what’s going on as far as us drafting two running backs,” Mostert said before the season, “it just gives me that much more confidence in myself and my abilities, knowing I need to go out there and produce.”