San Francisco 49ers: 2019 ‘State of the Franchise’ (special teams)
Niner Noise finishes off its “State of the Franchise” series with a look at the special team specialists of the San Francisco 49ers roster. The Niners spent a relatively high NFL Draft pick to help with field position problems from last year.
For the San Francisco 49ers, they go into 2019 with a mixture of experience and youth at special teams that overall looks very promising.
While the Niners will remain one of the best in the league when it comes to kicker, after inking Robbie Gould to an extension, they went an unusual route by investing a fourth-round NFL Draft selection of a punter, Mitch Wishnowsky.
While many have maligned the selection, the 49ers clearly wanted to be aggressive in addressing the field position problems they had. The 49ers were the third worst team in the league when it came to the average field position of their opponent.
In the “State of the Franchise” series, we look at the current state of the 2019 roster, as the 49ers get closer to training camp, position by position.
We won’t be doing full player profiles, for those we recommend taking a look at the “Who Is?” series by Niner Noise.
2019 State of the Franchise: Special teams
Robbie Gould
With Gould ending his holdout with a new contract, the 49ers have nothing to worry about when it comes to kicker.
Gould will continue what has been almost perfect form since joining the squad.
Colin Holba
Joining the 49ers after the suspension of Kyle Nelson, Colin Holba performed just fine after being signed.
Nobody cares about long-snappers, and I mean that in a good way. You only notice long snappers if they screw up, which Holba did not.
Kyle Nelson
However, Nelson did.
I mean, who gets a 10-game suspension for PEDs when you’re a long-snapper? Seriously.
It may be Nelson won’t last long with the 49ers anymore, since his suspension still has six games to go, and Holba has been fine as the replacement.
Mitch Wishnowsky
Maybe it’s just bias considering I’m also Australian, but Wishnowsky is going to be one of my favorite players to watch this year.
Wait, excitement over a punter? Maybe it is just bias.
But in all seriousness, we’ve seen Wishnowsky unleash a 5.26 second hang time already and has a cannon for a leg.
People will be uncomfortable with spending a fourth rounder on a punter, and that’s understandable. But as long as Wishnowsky brings the goods he’s flashing already, then nobody will remember what round he was drafted in.
Bonus player: Damontre Moore
Signed by the 49ers after the State of the Franchise piece on the defensive line, it’s only fair we look at Damontre Moore.
Next. 49ers 2019 training camp: 3 bubble players to watch. dark
Moore has some good pass-rushing skills, with 10 sacks in his NFL career despite only being a backup as well as leading the Alliance of American Football with nine sacks.
He has an uphill battle to make the roster, but a depth piece that can take down the quarterback fairly consistently would be an important piece to have if he can show the goods in preseason.