Exclusive: Packers’ Skyy Moore Hopes to Spark Another Special Teams

For the Green Bay Packers’ perennially downtrodden special teams, the sky could be the limit.

Make that the Skyy could be the limit.

Last year, the San Francisco 49ers traded for Skyy Moore. Spearheaded by his breakout season as a returner, they shot up from 32nd to 11th in the Packers On SI NFL Special Teams Rankings and from 31st to 13th in DVOA.

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In free agency a few weeks ago, the Packers signed Moore in hopes of lifting a unit that finished 20th in the Packers On SI rankings and 21st in DVOA.

“Yeah, we talked about it,” Moore told Packers On SI in an exclusive interview on Monday. “Me and my agent talked about it, more than anything, just of how I could come in and it could be kind of the same thing for San Fran. San Fran had the same struggles early in the season. They talked about how their special teams was in the bottom half of the league and my job was to come in there and help change that around.

“So, I’m going to look at it in the same manner of going in there, earning my stripes, earning my role and, hopefully, we can get in that top 10.”

While Packers have had only one top-10 finish in special teams over the last two decades, maybe Moore can be the rising tide that lifts the entire special teams boat. He is coming off a brilliant season for the 49ers. He finished sixth with a 27.5-yard average on kickoff returns and ninth with an 11.6-yard on punt returns.

Only two other returners finished in the top 10 in both phases.

To say the Packers signed a star returner would be an incomplete statement. More accurately, they signed a self-made star.

“I never did kick return or punt return when I was in college, so I kind of had to develop it,” said Moore, a second-round pick by the Chiefs out of Western Michigan in 2022. “So, my rookie year, I made a lot of mistakes, and I shied away from it ever since then.”

As a rookie, Moore had 18 opportunities as a punt returner, with 14 returns and four fair catches. He muffed three of those kicks, according to Pro Football Focus. He was not used again as a returner in a regular-season game until he joined the 49ers.

“I didn’t want to be back there and it kind of created a sense of like fear,” Moore continued. “Every time a kick would go up, I would be nervous. And then it came my third year around, I started working at it really hard. And then this year, it kind of took off and I felt very comfortable back there and I was able to showcase my talent once I get the ball.”

While he was not used as a returner in 2023 or 2024, his work behind the scenes set the stage for his breakout season.

“Yeah, that’s all it was,” he said. “It was the reps and it was just being able to give myself that confidence of like, I can do it as long as I put my mind to it and want to get better at it. If you want to get better at something, you probably will.”

Moore didn’t just become good at it. He became very good at it.

And because Moore was very good, he raised the level of everyone else on San Francisco’s suddenly strong special teams.

Then-San Francisco 49ers receiver Skyy Moore breaks a long return against the Cleveland Browns. | Scott Galvin-Imagn Images

“Everyone blocks a little harder when they have a guy back there who they think could go on any given return,” 49ers general manager John Lynch said last season.

Moore noticed it, too, as the season progressed.

“For sure. Once I got there, nobody knew me and nobody knew really what I could do to the full extent,” he said. “So, I took a lot of big hits at the beginning. I took a lot of big hits at the beginning from a lot of people just missing their blocks or maybe just missing their assignment.

“Once I started ripping a couple off, people started to buy in like, OK, like, we could actually go to the house with this. Let me lock in and let me get my one guy and everybody play their one-eleventh and we can go to the house. We definitely started to get real momentum as the season went on.”

For Moore, who had a 98-yard kickoff return and a 66-yard punt return last season, his work as a returner meant a new lease on his professional life.

After catching a total of 43 passes during his first two seasons with the Chiefs, a core-muscle injury limited him to six games in 2024. He did not catch a pass. Toward the end of training camp last summer, the Chiefs traded Moore and a seventh-round pick to the 49ers for a sixth-round pick.

After the trade, Chiefs coach Andy Reid told Moore that the change of scenery would do him good.

Moore embraced the change and took full advantage. He had a 98-yard kickoff return and a 66-yard punt return.

“Last year was one of the first years he really had an expanded role as a returner and he did an outstanding job,” Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said at the owners meetings on Monday.

“He was one of the better guys that did both in the league last year. As we went through that and had an opportunity to get him, that was something last year with our special teams that we needed to kind of add to, so excited to get him and see what he can do for us.”

Moore is excited for the opportunity with another winning franchise.

“It feels great, honestly, just being anywhere where a team wants me,” he said. “Being where you’re wanted, it’s a good feeling. So, I’m going to go in there and do my best to give the team what they need.”

Note: A second story from our exclusive interview with Skyy Moore will be published on Wednesday.

Skyy Moore has done nothing but win in the NFL with the Chiefs and 49ers. Now, he's looking forward to continuing it with the Packers. pic.twitter.com/p3tHuoAh19
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) March 31, 2026

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