The San Francisco 49ers have been one of the most well-rounded teams over the past few seasons, being one of the few franchises to compile top-ten offenses and defenses in 2019, 2021, and 2022.
However, one area that has struggled for the 49ers has been their special teams unit, which caused San Francisco to switch coordinators from Richard Hightower to Brian Schneider in 2022.
Well, that issue may not be an issue anymore, as the 49ers are ranked seventh in special-teams DVOA, according to Akash Anavaranthan, making them the lone team in the NFL that has top-seven marks all in three aspects of the game.
#49ers' DVOA profile (post-Week 3):
Total: 3rd
Offense: 2nd
Defense: 4th
Special Teams: 7th (!!)Only team in the NFL that has a Top-7 unit in all three phases of the game.
— Akash Anavarathan (@akashanav) September 26, 2023
A good part of their early special teams' success has been the strong starts for kicker Jake Moody and punter Mitch Wishnowsky, with the former hitting all nine of his field goals, while the latter has hit 70% of his punts inside the opposing 20-yard line.
While their coverage units have seen a few inopportune penalties thus far, it's promising to see early success from the 49ers' special teams unit, with both of their top specialists earning their money thus far.
With a strong offense and defense already, if the 49ers can get their special-teams unit in place, it'll only boost their other two groups, benefitting the 49ers with good field position on either side, creating even more scoring opportunities.