New defensive coordinator Brant Boyer didn't confuse words when he revealed his plans for improving the 49ers' beleaguered special teams unit.
On one hand, first-year San Francisco 49ers special teams coordinator Brant Boyer has an easy job.
After all, given the Niners' third phase of the game was wholly atrocious under former coordinator Brian Schneider in 2024, the only direction for Boyer to take the group is up.
Boyer, who followed his former head coach with the New York Jets, Robert Saleh, over to the Bay Area after Saleh agreed to return as San Francisco's defensive coordinator, has been a successful special teams coordinator under a variety of different regimes in New York, and his phase of the game remained positively impactful.
The 49ers needed precisely that.
Speaking with the media for the first time since his hire earlier this offseason, Boyer laid out a simple mindset he wants all of his special teams contributors to follow.
I asked @49ers special teams coordinator, Brant Boyer what the first thing that he needs to fix? #49ers pic.twitter.com/hHivQIwpRi
— Damon Bruce (@DamonBruce) May 8, 2025
"At the end of the day, this is a violent game played by men," Boyer explained when asked what he wanted to change. "Special teams is a one-on-one matchup 90 percent of the time, and it's either you or him. ...
"That's my whole mindset I'm trying to get these guys to understand is 'it's either you or me, and it's going to be you,' period. That's the whole mindset I want these guys to understand."
Blunt. Simple. (Hopefully) effective.
Boyer, who seemed to have a lot of say in the Niners' offseason free-agent pickups, didn't need to get into detailed specifics. Rather, opting to go with a competition perspective of winning one-on-one battles is what his focal point will be.
Considering just how atrocious special teams was for San Francisco a year ago, any different approach has to have the desired effect.