49ers coach hints at 2 positional battles this offseason
· Yahoo Sports
The San Francisco 49ers' roster is anything but shored up at this point in the offseason. While the biggest areas of concern have been filled and the majority of the team's starters can be ascertained, there are a few positions that could have new starters in Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season.
Visit saltysenoritaaz.org for more information.
Special teams coordinator Brant Boyer noted recently that two key 49ers starting spots — punter and kick returner — will be up for grabs during the team's offseason workouts this spring and summer.
The 49ers signed veteran Corliss Waitman and brought rookie Jack Bouwmeester this offseason to replace Thomas Morstead at punter. Both players kick differently: Waitman with his left, while Bouwmeester with his right. That duality was by design, Boyer said.
“Because the ball spins different, right?” he said. “So I think it’s really going to help. And I think whoever the dust settles with at that position, it’ll be a great experience for those returners to have to catch those balls like that for sure.”
Waitman has punted 230 times in his career for 10,673 yards — an average of 46.4 yards per punt. He last played for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2025. Bouwmeester punted for the University of Texas in 2025 after four years at Utah. He averaged 43.8 yards per punt on 213 career kicks in college.
As for the 49ers' return specialist, the team moved on from Skyy Moore and will likely have an open competition among several different players at various stages of their careers. Receivers Jacob Cowing and Ricky Pearsall from the 2024 draft class, receivers Jordan Watkins and Junior Bergen from the 2025 draft class, rookie receiver Wesley Grimes and eight-year veteran but first-year 49ers receiver Christian Kirk.
Cowing returned 28 punts for 245 yards and one kickoff for 32 yards in 2024 but missed the entire 2025 season with a preseason hamstring injury. Pearsall returned three punts for 41 yards in 2024. Watkins and Bergen haven't returned a kick in a regular-season game. Grimes returned two kickoffs for 40 yards in 2023 for Wake Forest.
Kirk is the most experienced return specialist in this group. In his eight NFL seasons, he returned 57 punts for 382 yards. However, Kirk will be 30 in November and hasn't returned more than four punts in a season since 2020.
This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: 49ers coach hints at 2 positional battles this offseason