49ers Raheem Mostert subjected to gut-wrenching social media abuse, wife says
San Francisco 49ers running back Raheem Mostert was subjected to a torrent of “heartless and degrading” direct messages via social media after he injured his knee Sunday during his team’s season-opening win at the Detroit Lions, his wife said.
“The nasty things some of you just carelessly say is gut-wrenching,” Devon Mostert wrote in a social media post. “I don’t think y’all get it. Football is my husband’s job. It’s how my family EATS. To read such HEARTLESS and degrading comments about the person I LOVE hurts. And I try so hard to shake them off … I do. But when there’s HUNDREDS, THOUSANDS. It’s a lot.”
Mostert, set for a leading role in the 49ers’ rushing attack this season, was injured in the first quarter Sunday after carrying the ball twice for 20 yards. Coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters Monday that the 29-year-old back will miss eight weeks with chipped cartilage in his knee.
It was the latest setback for Mostert, who has blossomed in recent seasons for the 49ers but also has struggled to stay healthy. He missed eight games last season with knee and ankle injuries, and leg and arm issues limited him to 20 games over the 2017 and 2018 seasons.
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When on the field, Mostert has been an effective weapon for San Francisco. After spending his first three seasons in the league contributing mostly on special teams for the Cleveland Browns, Miami Dolphins, Baltimore Ravens and Chicago Bears, the former Purdue track star averaged an impressive 5.7 yards per carry from 2018 through 2020. Last season he became the first NFL player since 1970 to start a season with back-to-back games featuring a touchdown play of at least 75 yards. In the 2020 NFC championship game, Mostert helped the 49ers reach the Super Bowl by trampling the Green Bay Packers for 220 yards and four touchdowns.
Big things were expected of Mostert to start this season, particularly after the 49ers surprisingly revealed before playing Detroit that running back Trey Sermon, a third-round draft pick in April who starred at Ohio State, would be inactive. That appeared to set the stage for a dominant performance by Mostert against an overmatched foe, but instead he experienced great misfortune before he and his wife had to endure an ugly reaction.
“As if today wasn’t hard enough, to get on here and have [direct messages] about how my husband should kill himself, about how he should be cut, about how he’s made of glass,” Devon Mostert wrote. “I know I shouldn’t care, but wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.”
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A sampling of the abuse to which Mostert’s wife referred could be gleaned from the public comments in an Instagram post he shared Sunday before the game. Along with a photo Mostert posted of himself running with the ball, he wrote, “It begins here! Let’s ride!”
“You get hurt every [expletive] game,” an Instagram user replied. Many comments were supportive of the running back, but other replies included:
- “Finish the game you soft [expletive].”
- “R u [expletive] kidding me bro. 2 [expletive] touches?”
- “Could’ve gave me a TD before you left bum.”
- “you’re built of glass and i hate you.”
Other athletes have shared their anguish of late over social media abuse. Earlier this month, after being ousted from the U.S. Open in the third round, American tennis star Sloane Stephens shared in an Instagram story racist and sexist messages sent to her account.
“It’s so hard to read messages like these, but I’ll post a few so you guys can see what it’s like after a loss,” she wrote at the time. “This type of hate is so exhausting and never ending.”
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After winning the women’s all-around gymnastics title at this summer’s Tokyo Olympics, Sunisa Lee said the suddenly massive amount of attention she received on social media might cause her to delete her Twitter account.
“There are definitely a lot of mean people out there who just say stuff that don’t need to be said,” the 18-year-old Minnesota native declared.
In her recent Instagram story, Devon Mostert wrote, “It’s days like today where I truly contemplate not getting on social media again.”
She claimed her husband would be “good” after his injury and “always comes back stronger” but added she would be “Holding my babies extra long tonight.”
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