MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — There might be no bigger Florida Panthers fan than Miami Dolphins running back Raheem Mostert.
But driving to Amerant Bank Arena to watch the Panthers’ second straight run to the conference championship round has, on some level, had to be bittersweet for Mostert.
Every Panthers postseason win this postseason is one more than Mostert has had in his two seasons with the Dolphins.
Miami Dolphins’ Raheem Mostert Talks Super Bowl
Even with his low mileage, the now 32-year-old Mostert doesn’t have many years left in the NFL. And he might never again get the opportunity he’ll have this year.
“I feel like this is just one of those make-or-break years,” Mostert said after Tuesday’s Dolphins OTA practice.
“You know, me personally, I feel like I want to win a championship,” he continued. “I want to go after one, and I want to get past the first round because these past two years have been BS in my own view. But it’s all about breaking that cycle and going deep into the playoffs and entering the championship round and then on to the big dance.”
Mostert later added: “I’ve played at the highest of levels. I lost a championship [with the San Francisco 49ers in 2019] and it sucks. You always want to get back, and it’s hard. … But once you get that hunger and that desire and once you’ve been there before, you want to go back, and that’s all I can think about right now.”
Of course, you can’t get to the Super Bowl if you keep losing in the postseason. And it’s really hard to win in the postseason if you’re hurt.
And Mostert — who recently signed an extension through the 2025 season — has been hurt each of the last two Januarys. He didn’t play in the 2022-23 playoff loss to the Bills and was severely limited by injury in the 2023-24 playoff loss to the Chiefs.
When asked if Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel has changed up the team’s offseason routine to help them get to the finish line healthy, Mostert replied:
“I mean, he just brought it up. It sucks because we were unstoppable these past couple of years and beating good teams, and then unfortunate things happen where you lose key guys that ultimately can alter a season.
“So his whole big thing is we still haven’t won a playoff game. We need to get to that point and we need, no matter who’s up — it really doesn’t matter if you’re a starter or a second guy — it’s about those back-end guys that can contribute, and you can’t skip a beat. And that’s what the winning teams, they’re able to do. They’re able to accomplish those things.”
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