The price to play: 49ers’ Mostert might miss birth of his son as players face choice
Raheem Mostert isn’t sure if he’ll be there for the birth of his second son.
That’s because the 49ers running back is slated to be with his team facing the first few weeks of the regular season in September — not in Cleveland, where his wife Devon is staying at the couple’s offseason home with their other 1-year-old son, Gunnar, while the country continues to strain through the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’ve both had nights where we’ve cried on each other,” Mostert said Wednesday while wearing a mask during a Zoom conference call, “and (we) just talked about how we’re gonna manage this whole deal. I told her flat out, ‘I don’t want you guys to even come to Cali because I don’t want you to be affected.’”
Mostert’s situation is not unique in the NFL. Many have weighed the pros and cons of trying to play a football season while much of the country remains confined to avoid spreading the coronavirus. San Francisco had its first player opt out of the 2020 season in receiver Travis Benjamin on Tuesday night, citing family concerns.
‘You can’t babysit guys’
In many cases, like with the 49ers in Santa Clara County, special exceptions have been made to allow NFL teams to conduct training camp and presumably host regular season games come September, though few to no fans are expected to be allowed inside stadiums. Santa Clara County still has guidelines preventing nonessential employees from going to work while the 49ers have their full-team meetings inside Levi’s Stadium and walkthroughs on the practice field.
And while special precautions and have been implemented, like social distancing, wearing masks and eliminating close interaction away from the practice field, the NFL will not be in a bubble this season, like the NBA or NHL.
Players will be responsible for avoiding contracting the virus when they’re away from the team facility, which means a breakout among teams is a possibility players are preparing for. 49ers players are allowed to stay at their homes or the nearby team hotel for training camp, where Mostert is currently stationed.
Players and coaches policing one another can only go so far. And given that training camp is starting later than normal and teams are using the first couple weeks back for strength and conditioning programs, practice time is of the essence.
“You can’t babysit guys once they get out of here,” linebacker Fred Warner said Wednesday. “Everybody has their own families and lives they go back to. But everybody understands that what you go home to, you’re going to bring back into this bubble once you go to work. Everybody has that personal responsibility knowing that you can’t miss a day. We are very limited on time right now to get ready for the season and every day matters. So making sure that not only yourself is available but protecting the rest of the team.”
Star cornerback Richard Sherman was asked how safe he feels inside the team’s facility given the unique circumstances.
“I feel relatively safe,” he said. “I mean, just as safe as I do in the rest of society, honestly.”
Mostert’s emotional decision
Mostert mentioned during the spring he and his wife had emotional conversations about whether or not to play this season with a new child on the way. Ultimately he decided to rejoin the 49ers while she stayed in Cleveland without a clear answer on when they’ll see other in person. They’ll try to work out the plan surrounding the birth of child No. 2 when the time comes. Mostert said the 49ers have been willing to accommodate whatever decision he comes to.
“I tried to ease her mind a little bit and tell her I’m getting tested every day,” Mostert said. “It’s not like I’m going out doing reckless things, and I’m in the hotel where there’s really nobody in the hotel right now because nobody is really traveling.
“She said it sounds all good and stuff but we have just got to make sure when the time is right, the time is right. ‘If you don’t have to be here, you’re gonna miss the birth.’ I told her I’m gonna do everything I can to make sure you’re happy at the end of the day. And if she doesn’t want me to be there, that’s fine. It’s all about communication and we’re definitely on the same page with everything.”
Mostert is also playing this season on a new contract that was reworked last month. He has a chance to double his initial $2.875 million salary through bonuses and incentives that weren’t in place when he initially signed a three-year, $8.7 million contract last offseason while he was a special teams player and not the team’s top running back.
Mostert, of course, signed his initial contract long before leading the team in rushing in 2019 and breaking out with a 220-yard, four-touchdown performance in the NFC title game.
Mostert last month requested a trade through his agent if the team had not been willing to revise his deal. Although on Wednesday it sounded like Mostert had no intention on playing for another team.
“I knew at the end it was going to be all right and I was still going to be a Niner no matter what,” Mostert said. “It’s just moving pieces and trying to figure out what you’ve got to do, not only contract-wise but as a business and as family.”
The deadline for players to opt out of the season is Thursday at 1 p.m.
This story was originally published August 6, 2020 at 4:00 AM.