49ers need to change who does kickoffs on special teams

It is no secret the San Francisco 49ers have struggled on special teams this year. They have not lived up to head coach Kyle Shanahan's credo of "don't screw up."

They need to make a key change to help them in this department.

Special teams is often the least glamorous and sexy part of football. It mostly consists of reserve players fighting for playing time.

At the same time it can produce some of the most exciting plays in football.

The Niners have not been a strong in the special teams department under Shanahan. He has made clear that he feels the game should be won or lost in the offensive and defensive phases of the game. As an offensive-minded coach, you can tell that he even looks down on special teams trickery as less pure than winning the game with offense.

This oversight and dismissal of special teams has come back to bite the Niners this season. The team has done some positive things on special teams as of late, but on the whole, it has struggled. San Francisco allowed a huge punt return against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 3 that set up the game-winning drive for LA. Isaac Guerendo fumbled a kickoff return against the New England Patriots to begin the second half that led to an easy score for the Pats but ultimately did not cost the Niners the game.

The 49ers lost their kicker, Jake Moody, for several weeks with an ankle sprain because he was forced to make a tackle on a kickoff return in Week 5 against the Arizona Cardinals, and his injury definitely played a role in the Niners losing that game, as they had to attempt a 4th-and-goal try from beyond the 20-yard line because they did not have enough trust in punter Mitch Wishnowsky.

San Francisco brought in journeyman kicker Matthew Wright for the Week 6 game against the Seattle Seahawks, and he performed well, making all three of his field-goal attempts and each of his extra-point attempts.

However, he was clearly deficient when it came to kickoffs. Wright does not have a very strong leg, which allowed the Seahawks to return a kickoff for a 97-yard touchdown in the third quarter that completely flipped the momentum of the game.

Then, later in the game, Wright again kicked the ball well short of the opponent's end zone, which allowed the returner to get a full head of steam and return the ball near midfield. This forced Wright to make a tackle and separate his shoulder in the process.

While he should be good to go on Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs, the Niners cannot let Wright do kickoffs anymore.

In Wright's career, he has kicked the ball off to the opponent 91 times. He has only gotten a touchback 24 times.

That is just not going to cut it with how bad San Francisco is on special teams.

The Niners are certainly missing Moody, who has garnered a touchback on 77 of 118 kickoffs, but they also have a better option than Wright currently on the roster.

Punter Mitch Wishnowsky has experience doing kickoffs. From 2019 though 2021, he was the primary kickoff man for San Francisco. With an aging kicker in Robbie Gould, the 49ers calculated that Wishnowsky could more reliably get the ball in the end zone, and they probably did not want to expose Gould to injury.

In 232 kickoffs, Wishnowsky has gotten 116 touchbacks, which for the math majors out there, is a cool 50 percent. That is not as good as Moody, but it is certainly better than Wright. It may not seem like a big deal, but getting one or more touchbacks in a game when the alternative could be a huge runback can be the difference between winning and losing.

Plus, we have seen in the past that the Australian punter is not afraid to get down and dirty and make a tackle on a kickoff. So, even if he does give up a big return, he may be less of a liability out there than Moody or Wright.

The Niners need to let their punter take over kickoff duties while Moody is on the mend so they have a better chance of just breaking even on special teams.

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