San Francisco running back Raheem Mostert missed half the 2020 season with an ankle injury, but when he was healthy, he showed off his home run ability.
Specifically, according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats, Mostert was the single fastest ball carrier in the NFL in 2020 when he reached a top speed of 23.09 mph on a touchdown run against the Jets. Mostert was also the second-fastest ball carrier when he hit 22.73 mph on another play.
This is the third consecutive year that a 49ers running back has been the fastest ball carrier in the league; Matt Breida was the fastest ball carrier in both 2018 and 2019. That says something both about the 49ers prioritizing speed in their personnel evaluation of running backs, and about how well Kyle Shanahan’s offense gets running backs into the open field.
Rounding out the Top 5 fastest ball carriers of 2020 were Cardinals running back Kenyan Drake at 22.11 mph, Colts running back Jonathan Taylor at 22.05 mph and Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill at 21.91 mph.