To put into proper perspective how borderline unbelievable what Raheem Mostert is doing this season is, let’s go back to more innocent times. You remember, back in June and July, when fantasy football life was all mock drafts, vacated targets and projections for players to finish 17 games completely healthy.
And there was so much talk and speculation about the Miami Dolphins’ backfield.
Fantasy analysts and managers, as well as many NFL media talking heads, had Miami as the perfect landing spot for Dalvin Cook. He’s from South Florida, and the Dolphins surely were not going to trust their backfield to a rookie (De’Von Achane) similar in size to Bryce Young, and two aging, undrafted free-agent 49ers castoffs (Jeff Wilson Jr. and Mostert).
Heck, with Mostert’s checkered injury history, many people asked the question of how long he’d last on the field.
Fantasy managers did not believe in this backfield, no matter how many days passed on the march to the start of the 2023 season. Even when Cook signed with the Jets and Ezekiel Elliott inked a deal with the Patriots in the middle of August — before fantasy football draft season hit its busiest time — there was little to no movement on the average draft position (ADP) for Miami running backs as the number of ballcarriers thinned after Wilson was placed on IR to start the season.
Mostert went as the RB40 with an ADP of 115.2 in the 10th round of drafts; Achane was RB54 at 125.2.
Truth be told, there was little reason to think that Mostert was more than a reserve placeholder after the starting running back slots were filled in fantasy drafts. He was ancient in running back years, going into his age-31 season with just one season featuring more than eight starts and over 137 carries to his name in his career. While 2022 was his most healthy and productive season — 16 games, 891 rushing yards and three touchdowns — this was still someone who had not made a distinctive mark with five NFL teams, including…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/is-raheem-mostert-the-real-fantasy-football-mvp-of-2023-163336184.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2023-12-20 16:33:36
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