One Underrated Position Battle for the 49ers this Summer

One of the more interesting questions this offseason is who will return kicks and punts for the San Francisco 49ers. Last year, the 49ers found a gem in Skyy Moore, but Moore is off to the Green Bay Packers, and the team does not have an answer to replace him yet.

Who will be the San Francisco 49ers return man in 2026?

Special teams coordinator Brant Boyer was asked about who he thinks has an inside track to these spots, and he noted that there are five to seven guys who are in the mix at each one.

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."
Brant Boyer

Boyer also noted that there could be a different kick returner and punt returner because some of the guys have more experience in one area than the other.

The initial players listed in the conversation were Junior Bergen, Jacob Cowing and Christian Kirk. Boyer himself added Ricky Pearsall and rookie UDFA Will Pauling into the mix. Considering Isaac Guerendo returned some kicks last year and Jordan Watkins had punt return experience in college, they might be the sixth and seventh names in the mix to return kicks this year.

The interesting note is that plenty of these return men have had punt return experience, but nearly as many are experienced in returning kicks.

San Francisco 49er — Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images

Pearsall returned a few punts for the 49ers in 2024, and Watkins tried out punting in the preseason last year. Christian Kirk has returned punts in his NFL career, but not kicks.

Jacob Cowing has returned kicks, but in a very limited manner, and rookie UDFA Pauling might be in the mix, but he was not a return option in college.

This leaves Junior Bergen and Guerendo. Guerendo did return six kicks last year and 12 for his career, but the team has tried to move him away from that role, and they have not trusted him. Bergen is essentially a return specialist who can do both, but he was not able to stay healthy to show it last year.

So, the team has plenty of options to return punts, but their top two options to return kicks are not even guaranteed to make the team. Can one of these other options unseat the current best candidates?

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