Raheem Mostert likely to miss eight weeks with chipped knee cartilage

The San Francisco 49ers will be without running back Raheem Mostert for at least eight weeks after he suffered an injury in the team’s Week 1 win.

According to coach Kyle Shanahan, Mostert suffered a chipped knee cartilage and will be placed on injured reserve. Shanahan expects to have Mostert back in about eight weeks.

Kyle Shanahan said Raheem Mostert chipped off a piece of knee cartilage. He'll go on IR and could return as early as eight weeks.

— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) September 13, 2021

It will be interesting to see how Shanahan and the 49ers handle the position until Mostert returns. Rookie Trey Sermon was expected to have a significant role in the offense even before Mostert got hurt, but he was a surprise inactive on Sunday. Another rookie, Elijah Mitchell, ended up getting most of the work Sunday, getting 19 carries for 104 yards and a touchdown.

Injuries have hampered Mostert’s career to the point that the running back has received some very unfair criticism over his health. The 29-year-old has appeared in 33 games over the past three seasons, totaling 1,554 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns.