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Taking Stock of the 49ers Special Teams

Is it getting better or worse?
Grant Cohn|
Taking Stock of the 49ers Special Teams
Taking Stock of the 49ers Special Teams

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San Francisco 49ers

Are the 49ers special teams getting better or worse?

Let's take stock.

Jake Moody

He's not the worst kicker in the league, and he's still young so he might improve, but he's far too inconsistent for a Super Bowl contender such as the 49ers. He missed a kick in all three of their playoff games -- unacceptable. And sure, he has a strong leg, which is terrific. But the 49ers don't need to take lots of long field goals, because they have an elite offense. They need a kicker who's automatic on the short kicks, and Moody isn't. He missed an extra point in the freaking Super Bowl. The 49ers need to cut him so he can sign with a team that plays for nothing so he's never under pressure, then the 49ers should sign a kicker with playoff experience. Maybe they can convince Robbie Gould to come out of retirement.

Stock down.

Mitch Wishnowsky

One of the best punters in the league. The 49ers offense is so good in the regular season that they rarely punt, but Wishnowsky managed to pin 20 of his 52 punts inside the opponent's 20-yard line, which is extremely impressive. He also ran for a first down once this season when he decided on his own to fake a punt. The 49ers should let him run more often.

Stock up.

Taybor Pepper

One of the best long snappers in the league, plus he knows sign language, which is nice.

Stock up.

Ray Ray McCloud

A fair catch specialist who tried to scoop and run with a muffed punt in the Super Bowl instead of simply falling on the ball, and as a result he let the Chiefs recover. 

Stock down.

Published
Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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