Shocking stats put 49ers special teams struggles into perspective originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The 49ers’ special teams unit has been under fire for much of the 2024 NFL season. And after the heated theatrics in San Francisco during the Week 10 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the criticism isn’t going away anytime soon.
A plot chart shared Friday on X, formerly known as Twitter, by user @SFdata9ers highlights the 49ers’ season-long struggles with special teams.
Special Teams: Kickoffs vs. Punt Coverage
The #49ers ranks last in EPA/Play for both kickoff and punt coverage – and it’s not even close. For 10 weeks, #SF has lost a whopping 11 expected points on kickoffs and 22 on punts. pic.twitter.com/Js6XDu45q2
— SFdata9ers (@sfdata9ers) November 16, 2024
There’s no way around it: San Francisco’s expected points add on special teams snaps are the worst in the NFL by a wide margin.
49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, well aware of his team’s mistakes, discussed the special teams issues with reporters on Wednesday.
“Yes, we do – we spend a lot of meeting time and a lot of practice time,” Shanahan said of San Francisco’s special teams unit. “We’re not doubling the time we spend on it because I feel like we’re doing as much as we can. We mixed a lot of guys there. … I do think guys are getting better and all that, but we have to make sure we don’t make stupid plays where we can cause a penalty, where we can cause a turnover and those are the things that we’ve done we really need to clean up.”
There is still a lot to clean up.
49ers punter Mitch Wishnowsky ranks 32nd in the NFL with 45.2 yards per boot. Kicker Jake Moody missed three kicks but scored the walk-off game-winner for Tampa Bay. And San Francisco isn’t generating much success in the second leg.
But alas, Shanahan and the 49ers will continue to fall by the wayside.
“It’s very difficult,” Shanahan said of finding improvements internally. “You have the choices you have. You start the year playing a lot of young guys and you think they’re going to get better as the year goes on, and then a couple of your vets get hurt and now those young guys are starters. And so that annoys other guys and it hurts their development if they try to do both because they needed a lot more reps. But as they get more pressure on them for offense and defense.
“Even like [running back] Jordan Mason, he was one of our best special teams players last year and he was our starting running back for eight of the games until last week. So all that stuff is a trickle-down effect. You try to draft practice squad guys that you think can help, but it’s better, one guy gets hurt and he doesn’t know a position, that could cost you a game too. So those are all challenges that everyone has with special teams.”
It’s a tough situation for the 49ers. But San Francisco only has itself to address its special teams issues.
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