The San Francisco 49ers appeared to stabilize their special teams unit last season, solidifying the kicking situation with the addition of kicker Eddie Piñeiro. The team also found success in the return game, with wide receiver Skyy Moore emerging as the primary return specialist.

After finishing last in overall special teams EPA rankings in 2024, the 49ers made a dramatic leap to second overall in 2025. The improvement was especially noticeable in the return game, as San Francisco climbed from 31st to fifth in kick returns and from 23rd to ninth in punt returns.


However, Moore is now with the Green Bay Packers, leaving the 49ers with a wide-open competition to replace one of the team's key special teams contributors.

"I think there's a handful of guys certainly in the mix and guys that have done it before," special teams coordinator Brant Boyer said last week. "So, it's going to be interesting to see. You have a handful of guys that kick return, a handful of guys that can do both. You have a handful of guys that only punt return, so it'll be interesting to see how it shakes out.

"The good thing is where we're at with our time right now, that we have time to figure that out. We'll throw them in the preseason game, see how it goes, and then we'll go from there."

Young playmakers such as Jacob Cowing and Junior Bergen are expected to be heavily involved in the competition. Boyer also noted that veteran offseason addition Christian Kirk and third-year wideout Ricky Pearsall could be in the mix for return duties.

"All those guys. Kirk and Pearsall and all those guys," Boyer said. "There's a couple of the free agent guys that we have in here that have done it before. So, there's a big group of guys there that we're going to put back there, and hopefully we can get them all reps in the preseason and see who shakes out. That's going to be a really good competition at that returner spot this year."


Boyer added that the 49ers will evaluate several traits when determining the team's kick returner, including tackle-breaking ability, explosiveness, and vertical speed. Those evaluations could ultimately shape the return schemes San Francisco uses in the 2026 season.

"If it's a smaller, faster guy, then you have to run different schemes with those kinds of guys," Boyer explained. "So, it all depends on who shakes out and who it's going to be. Like I said, in each of those positions in the punt returner spot, in the kick returner spot, there's five or six, seven guys in each of those spots that are going to battle that out, and we'll see how it shakes out."

While the battle for the 49ers' return specialist roles may not generate the same attention as other competitions, it could prove critical to the team's success in 2026.

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