WHITE SULFUR SPRINGS, W.Va. – Two days and several medical consultations after leaving the season against the Detroit Lions with a knee injury, the season of Raheem Mostert of the San Francisco 49ers is over.
Mostert went to social media on Tuesday to announce that an injury the Niners hoped would require minor arthroscopic surgery would end their 2021. On Monday, the Niners had said they could return in eight weeks.
“This gives me, without a doubt, the best chance of returning 110%. I have ALWAYS come back stronger and I will do it again this time! I have faith in myself, in my doctors, in my support system, on my team, and God, ”Mostert said in a statement posted on social media, adding that the decision“ avoided ”her.
– Raheem Mostert (@ RMos_8Ball) September 14, 2021
With Mostert finished for the season, the 49ers signed runner Kerryon Johnson on Tuesday. Johnson joins a runner who also includes rookies Elijah Mitchell and Trey Sermon and sophomore JaMycal Hasty, all of them on the active roster.
Mostert, 29, suffered the injury in Sunday’s 41-33 victory over the Detroit Lions. He led twice for 20 yards on San Francisco’s second possession, but headed for the side shortly after a 9-yard gain in the second play of the series.
On Monday, Niners coach Kyle Shanahan announced that Mostert would be missing about eight weeks with “broken cartilage” in one knee that would require arthroscopic surgery. But Mostert sought multiple opinions to make sure that when he returns, he will be in full force. These additional opinions pointed him to surgery that would require a longer recovery time.
All of this casts doubt on whether Mostert has played his last game with the 49ers. He is in the final season of a three-year, $ 8.65 million contract he signed in 2019. He finished the end of the 2019 season, burst onto the scene in the playoffs and rushed to 220 yards and four touchdowns in the NFC championship game. against the Green Bay Packers.
But Mostert was limited to eight games in 2020, as knee and ankle sprains cost him two and six games, respectively. He joined the Niners as the top defender this year, but the team began planning for the future by selecting Sermon in the third round and Mitchell in the sixth round of the 2021 NFL draft.
Mitchell intervened for Mostert after the injury. He believes he will get the first crack in the starting lineup after setting a 49ers franchise record in running yards (104 vs. 19) in a debut. Hasty, who ran for a touchdown against Detroit, is expected to move up to second in the rotation with Sermon third.
The 49ers placed Mostert and cornerback Jason Verrett (right-handed ACL) on Tuesday, signed veteran cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick and promoted cornerback Dontae Johnson from the training roster to the list of 53 men in the corresponding moves. . Currently, the team had 52 players on its 53-man roster.