Raheem Mostert: Priority Waiver Wire Target for Week 14 (Fantasy Football)

The San Francisco 49ers have employed a running back by committee of epic proportions for the entirety of the 2019 season. Before the season, fantasy owners had to determine who among Tevin Coleman, Matt Breida, and Jerick McKinnon would be the back to own. Once McKinnon was placed on IR, it appeared the backfield had more clarity, with Coleman playing the Coleman role from his days in Atlanta and Breida being the power back with some receiving ability. Due to injury (Breida) and ineffectiveness (Coleman), another back has emerged from the 49ers’ backfield with fantasy appeal.

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Player Profile

Raheem Mostert had a couple of games in 2018 where he showed he could be a viable fantasy asset if given the opportunity. He finished as the RB33 in Week 6, putting up 87 rushing yards on 12 rushing attempts. In Week 7, he was the RB23 with 59 rushing yards in addition to four receptions for an additional 17 yards. His best fantasy week also came in his final game of the season when Mostert finished as the RB16 in Week 9 against the Raiders. On his way to what would have been a massive day, he ran for 86 yards and a touchdown on just seven rushing attempts through two and a half quarters. On his final carry, he went down awkwardly after being tackled and suffered a gruesome arm injury. That injury ended his season, and he finished with 261 rushing yards on 34 rushing attempts boasting an impressive 7.68 yards per carry. He also had six receptions on seven targets for another 25 yards.

When the 49ers signed Tevin Coleman on March 13th of this year, you may have thought Mostert’s story was finished. But the 49ers then re-signed Mostert two days later to a three-year, $8.7 million contract. McKinnon’s knee never recovered from his 2018 season-ending ACL surgery which helped to keep Mostert in the backfield mix.

Outlook

In Week 2 of this year, Mostert put up 83 yards on 13 carries and added another 68 yards on three receptions, adding a touchdown to finish as the RB3 on the week. The following week he had another 79 yards rushing on 12 carries, but he also lost a fumble. From that game through Week 10, his snap share fluctuated between 3% to 30%, and his usage was limited to between one and nine rushing attempts with little usage in the passing game. But with Matt Breida missing the last two games due to injury Mostert has seen his usage and snap share rise.

He’s had 25 rushing attempts and five targets over the past two weeks, scoring touchdowns both weeks. In Sunday’s loss to the Ravens, Mostert out-touched Tevin Coleman 21 to six and outscored him 23.4 fantasy points to 2.5 fantasy points. His 19 rushing attempts are a season-high for any single 49er running back this year. Despite having 17 fewer rushing attempts on the year, Mostert only trails Breida for the team lead in rushing yards, and his 5.9 yards per attempt leads the team. As noted by David Zach, Mostert has ranked near the top in yards after contact for most of the year, so he’s getting more than what’s blocked for him, too. Though it’s Coleman who has the reputation as a receiving back, it’s Mostert’s yards per reception of 11.9 that leads the team’s running backs.

Mostert has earned himself a full share of the 49ers’ running back by committee, and if Breida continues to miss time and/or Coleman continues to underperform, he could earn himself the largest share. As you can see from the below tweet, Mostert has the skill-set to play on all three downs and should be added to rosters this week. Every time Mostert has been given a chance to produce, that’s exactly what he’s done.

Before halftime Raheem Mostert gets SF to the 44 with 1:50 left. The offense had already scored 2 TDs on big plays. Then the 49ers chose killing the clock & a long Gould FG over a potential TD. I understand not wanting to give Lamar the ball back…but SF left points on the board pic.twitter.com/WPJ1TyqIVD

— Kevin Jones (@Mr_KevinJones) December 2, 2019