Miami Dolphins RB Raheem Mostert says he's cleared from knee injury

MIAMI — Dolphins running back Raheem Mostert announced Monday he has been cleared for training camp activities after rehabbing a knee injury since early last season.

Mostert made the announcement on social media, tweeting, «It's go time!!»

«Being told you may never step on the field again isn't easy to hear… But when you bet on yourself, your faith, your determination, and modern medicine, good things happen. Hard work pays off! Beyond thankful!!» he added.

Mostert chipped cartilage in his left knee during the 49ers' first game of the season in 2021 and missed the remainder of the year, undergoing surgery in October. He signed a one-year contract with the Dolphins this offseason but did not participate in spring practices as he continued to recover.

First-year coach Mike McDaniel, who coached Mostert in San Francisco from 2017 to 2021, was noncommittal about Mostert's status for the start of the season when asked about him in May but insisted the team would not rush the eight-year veteran back.

«I know his expectations are to play Week 1 and we are not going to rush it,» McDaniel said. «He's come too far to have a setback, so he's just diligently working day-in and day-out. But when he's ready, he'll be on the field for sure.»

Known as one of the fastest players in the NFL, Mostert has struggled to remain on the field during the past two seasons, playing just nine of 33 possible games. When healthy in 2019 and 2020, however, he was one of the league's most efficient and dangerous runners; Mostert ranked second among running backs with a 5.37 yards-per-carry average and eighth in percentage of rushes of 10 or more yards (14.1%).

He joins what is now a crowded backfield in Miami that was in desperate need of an upgrade.