The San Francisco 49ers have a headache to deal with as training camp approaches.
Raheem Mostert, the team’s leading rusher in 2019, has requested a trade, according to agent Brett Tessler. The team’s failure to adjust his contract was cited as the reason for the request.
After months of unproductive talks with the 49ers about fairly adjusting Raheem Mostert's contract (which paid him for special teams) we have requested a trade. Disappointing that it would come to this for a guy who led all NFL RBs in YPC & helped lead them to the Super Bowl.
— Brett Tessler (@TesslerSports) July 8, 2020
Mostert is due to earn a base salary of just over $2.57 million in 2020. He’s signed through 2021 and is definitely underpaid relative to his on-field performance. The 49ers seemed to know that, as there were rumors of a contract extension in the offing as recently as last month.
The 28-year-old ran for 772 yards and eight touchdowns last season, and appeared in line for a bigger workload ahead of Tevin Coleman after Matt Breida was shipped to Miami. Mostert clearly wanted to be paid accordingly, and the 49ers have yet to oblige. Considering the running back’s NFL journey has left him with a pretty big chip on his shoulder, his reaction to that is understandable, if not frustrating from San Francisco’s perspective.
