49ers can be thankful for Skyy Moore's electrifying effort vs. Browns

The San Francisco 49ers have historically neglected special teams during head coach Kyle Shanahan's tenure, finally opting to make significant changes last offseason.

One of those was to pluck wide receiver and return specialist Skyy Moore from the Kansas City Chiefs, who despite some prior concerns on special teams from his days in KC, has fully reinvigorated the Niners' return efforts.

And those paid off in a major way in San Francisco's post-Thanksgiving road bout on a chilly and windy day at the Cleveland Browns.

Considering the weather conditions, combined with Cleveland's own offensive challenges, one figured scoring would be hard to come by, and it was.

Except Moore helped set up the 49ers' crucial first-half touchdown with an electrifying 67-yard punt return that set quarterback Brock Purdy and Co. up nicely:

That was the longest punt return by San Francisco since 2010 when wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. did it in December of that year against the St. Louis Rams.

The 49ers managed a 1-yard touchdown run by Christian McCaffrey to take the early 7-0 lead, which was absolutely vital in ensuring the momentum would be on Shanahan's side in a hostile environment and against a stout Browns defense.

Moore's acquisition went largely under the radar as the regular season began, largely seen as a desperate measure to reinforce what was largely a depleted Niners wide receiver room.

While Moore has almost completely been iced out of the offensive game plan amid healthy returns of other receivers like Jauan Jennings and Ricky Pearsall, the former's contributions have nevertheless sparked what was previously a shoddy return game for San Francisco.

And the transaction might secretly be one of the better moves made by Shanahan and general manager John Lynch.

They and the 49ers can all be thankful Moore has found a niche that has positively impacted games ever since.