Golden Nuggets: Hightower speaks highly of Mostert

San Francisco 49ers special teams coach Richard Hightower spoke at the team’s state of the franchise earlier this week and had high praise for running back Raheem Mostert, who has made a career out of being a standout special teamer. Hightower told Keiana Martin:

“I would feel bad if I didn’t say how proud I am of Raheem and steps that he’s taken. That’s something that we promote in that room. We want those guys to play really well on special teams and get their opportunity. Because if they get an opportunity on offense or defense, that means somebody noticed them, and then we’re helping the team in more than one way. That’s kind of what we preach. Our young guys know that. I know it’s public now, Raheem being on six different teams, but we’ve been preaching that for a long time. We make sure every rookie knows that coming in, every young guy knows what Raheem had to do to get where he is. We’ve got so many examples of that.”

Mostert’s career is the definition of perseverance. Many players would have called it quits after the second or third team cut him, let alone five. Hightower took over as special teams coordinator when John Lynch was named general manager, but he had a stint with the Niners in 2015 as well. Hightower made it clear he takes pride in developing players while also acknowledging the talent he gets to work with:

“Our personnel has done a really good job of getting guys in. They really understand what it is to win ball games, what it is to be a team, what it is to play complementary football, to help the offense, to help the defense, and just know what you need to do in order to win games.”

Onto some links.

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49ers’ Williams explains ‘real close’ bond with Shanahan (NBC Sports)

Why Nick Bosa believes Javon Kinlaw is perfect fit for 49ers’ defense (Yahoo)

Kinlaw posts emotional message after signing 49ers deal (NBC Sports)

Mahomes, Prescott among those who most deserve new contracts (NFL.com)

Young thinks Bosa can break his 49ers franchise sack record (NBC Sports)