Getty San Francisco 49ers running back Raheem Mostert returned the jersey his friend and former teammate Damien Williams signed after Super Bowl LIV. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
After a few weeks of discontent and then an official trade request, the San Francisco 49ers and Raheem Mostert have come to an agreement.
Mostert and his agent Brett Tessler had apparently been discussing a new contract or an extension with the 49ers since shortly after San Francisco’s run to Super Bowl LIV, but now the agent has tweeted out that the two sides have a deal.
The announcement comes a day before the 49ers’ remaining roster members, which includes Mostert and everyone who isn’t a rookie, quarterback or injured, are scheduled to report to the team’s facilities in Santa Clara, California.
Just finalized a new deal for Raheem Mostert with the San Francisco 49ers. Happy we got things worked out and looking forward to him having another great season there. Thanks to the organization for taking care of him.
According to San Francisco Chronicle’s Eric Branch, Mostert could double his contract pay of $2.875 million due to a signing bonus and improved incentives.
With one less headache out of the way, general manager John Lynch and San Francisco can instead turn their heads towards training camp, the 2020 season and potentially securing a new deal for tight end George Kittle.
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From Mostert’s Perspective
It only made sense that the former Purdue Boilermaker wanted a new deal.
After his impressive rise throughout the 2019 season saw him become San Francisco’s lead back in a backfield that included proven competition in the forms of Matt Breida and Tevin Coleman.
However, it was not reported that Mostert and Tessler had asked the team about a restructuring until this summer, which came as a bit of a surprise given the context.
As Tessler has said before, Mostert wishes to be paid like the team’s No. 1 back, which makes sense. Coleman was scheduled to make close to $2 million more than Mostert in 2020, who was initially set to make $2.875 million.
However, Coleman is likely going to be playing a backup role unless something drastically changes, so it’s hard to justify paying Coleman more.
It remains to be seen if Coleman will have his contract restructured to account for his teammate’s new contract, but whatever the 49ers offered to Mostert was apparently enough for the player and reasonable for the team.
The details of the contract are not immediately known.
From the 49ers’ Perspective
San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan has to be excited about this. While many consider Mostert’s flourish to be due to Shanahan’s system, the fact of the matter is that no running back has had a season like Mostert’s in Shanahan’s first three seasons.
Another concern from the franchise’s perspective was likely appearing flimsy or too quick to be handing out extensions and deals. Mostert and Tessler went public with the negotiations, however, which may have forced the 49ers’ hand.
But if a deal has been struck, then it was obviously something the team thought was worth doing and was fiscally reasonable. Sure, the concern of appearing easy to push around to agents is a fair one, but so is the concern of keeping a Super Bowl-contending team’s core together.
Mostert made his name known in 2019, but he still very much feels like a player straddling the area between team star and important starter. Either way, securing Mostert and his contentment right before training camp is about to start is a major success for San Francisco’s front office.
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Evan Reier is a sportswriter covering the San Francisco 49ers for Heavy.com and local sports for the Montana Standard in Butte, Mont. Reach out to him on Twitter at @evanreier and join our 49ers community at Heavy on 49ers on Facebook.