The Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs don't play until November 5 in Germany, but many fans around the league (and the world) are already circling that game on their calendars. Dolphins running back Raheem Mostert recently spoke with Sterling Holmes from FanSided's Stacking the Box podcast and discussed his mindset going into the highly anticipated AFC matchup.
Mostert gave Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes their flowers, calling Reid a "great coach" and complimenting Mahomes for "doing unbelievable things" on that offense.
Mostert said, "It's definitely gonna be a challenge because the Chiefs are a great team. They just came off a Super Bowl win... But at the end of the day, we have a great team as well. So we have to step up to the challenge."
Through eight weeks of the season, the Dolphins have beaten up average teams but notably struggled against genuine Super Bowl contenders in losses to the Bills and the Eagles. One has to imagine that the Chiefs-Dolphins matchup will give Mostert and his team another chance to prove they can hang with the big boys.
On paper, they absolutely can. What the Dolphins have more than any NFL team is speed. Mostert said, without a beat, that he was the fastest player on the Dolphins, albeit the stats don't quite agree with that. According to NFL NextGen Stats, Mostert is the third-fastest ball-carrier behind Tyreek Hill and Devon Achane in 2023.
That's on a football field in live game play. On a track in a relay, the results may differ.
Mostert named the Dolphins' hypothetical four-by-one relay team: "Me, Devon Achane, Tyreek, and Jaylen Waddle." He added for clarification, "In no specific order."
Dolphins running back Raheem Mostert is an outlier, and he knows it
Compared to his speedy teammates in their 20s, Mostert is at the ripe age of 31. He's a living breathing anomaly and an outlier for a player at his position. How does he do it? How can he still be so, so fast?
Mostert reflected briefly on his NFL career that saw him play for the San Francisco 49ers for five years before joining Miami in 2022. He only played 25 games in total in his first three years in the league and mostly contributed on special teams; as he put it, he didn't face "a lot of wear and tear" early in his career.
Mostert also noted that he liked to think of himself as "fine wine... the older you get, the better you become."
With a career-high and league-leading 10 touchdowns through eight games and on pace to record a 1,000-plus rushing yard season, Mostert is certainly living his best life right now.
Mostert said, "I just had a conversation with somebody and they mentioned that Year Four was the year that I started getting on the scene. Those three other years, you know, I didn't. I was playing special teams here and there sparingly and trying to make an impact for the team."
He continued, "I truly believe I'm in a position where I'm at right now, in Year Nine and doing these great things as a 31-year-old, which is uncharted territory for a lot of guys especially in the NFL."
The Kyle Shanahan apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, and fortunately, Mostert has found his home on an offense designed by Shanahan protégé Mike McDaniel that can bring out the best in him. Even if he's peeking over the hill.
