3 reasons why 49ers special teams will be exceptionally better in 2022
By Peter Panacy
Reason No. 3: Brian Schneider will bring plenty of success to 49ers
Richard Hightower’s special teams units rarely found any sort of massive continuity on a year-to-year basis. And while special teams were strong in some regards at various points since 2017, they weren’t stout all around.
In the wake of Hightower’s leaving, the Niners inked former Seattle Seahawks special teams coordinator Brian Schneider, who helped engineer plenty of success on this phase of the game during his extensive tenure, 2010 through 2020 with Seattle, and 2021 with the Jags, albeit stepping away before that regular season began.
Read More: 49ers hope to upgrade special teams by hiring Brian Schneider
During the 2020 season, Football Outsiders ranked the Hawks’ special teams unit No. 3 overall in the league, while San Francisco came in 23rd.
However, it’s Schneider’s work in the early 2010s that stood out, as he turned those Seattle units into truly elite special teams groups, something he’ll look to replicate with the 49ers in 2022.
If anything, Schneider should be seen as a notable upgrade over Hightower, who never quite got the most out of what was available to him.