Does Raheem Mostert deserve a raise?
There is no doubt that 49ers running back Raheem Mostert outplayed his contract in 2019.
Mostert led the team during the regular season carrying the ball 137 times for 772 yards, and eight touchdowns. He averaged 5.6 yards per carry and that was apparently just a start.
In the post season Mostert carried the ball 53 times for 336 yards and 5 touchdowns, giving him 6.34 yards per carry. The NFC Championship game was a Mostert highlight reel of 29 carries for 220 yards and 4 touchdowns, but timing is everything.
Prior to the 2019 season, Mostert and his agent Brett Tessler inked a 3-year $8.7 million deal. At the time, Mostert was known as a special teams ace, or as teammate George Kittle called him, “A cheat code.” Before his break out season, Mostert had carried the ball less than 50 times in four years for 297 yards.
Asking for a raise one year into a 3-year contract would normally seem ridiculous, but Mostert’s job responsibility has grown. He is not only a special teams necessity, but the lead back in Kyle Shanahan’s offense.
On Wednesday, Tessler announced that after several months of discussions with the 49ers, he and his client would be requesting a trade.
An agent’s job is to get his clients the most lucrative deal possible, and at the time, that is what Tessler did. Now, amid a global pandemic, asking for a better contract seems an unwise move. Tessler said that is the not the case. He revealed to me that he has been trying to get a deal done for “five months, and [COVID-19] is not an excuse.”
Mostert is set to make $2.575M in 2020 and $2.875M in 2021, none of it guaranteed. That ranks him 25th among all running backs in the league, making less than Tevin Coleman, Matt Breida (Dolphins) and the yearly average of Jerick McKinnon’s 4-year deal.
Speaking with Tessler left the impression that he wasn’t asking for an inordinate amount of money, but enough to make Mostert’s salary comparable to his fellow position mates. While it is important to not the wording “requesting” a trade as opposed to “demanding” one, Tessler’s frustration over the phone was palpable.