San Francisco 49ers special teams coordinator Brant Boyer spoke to reporters Thursday, following the team's 18th practice of training camp. The 49ers are preparing for their preseason finale—a home matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers. Here's everything he had to say.
Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.
Are you looking at both where the ball lands and the hang time of those? And if so, how has K Jake Moody done in both?
"He's doing a nice job. I think that hang time really doesn't matter anymore depending on what kind of kicks you're kicking. So obviously we work on a ton of kicks, different kicks and I think he's done a good job of trying to place them where we're asking him to place them. But at the end of the day, we're not going to show any of this stuff. Obviously, it's a very vanilla game plan, everything that we're doing, just because you don't want people to know what you're doing. They can see steps and all that stuff like that, we all study versus our opponents."
How big a moment was that for him, for Moody the other night?
"I mean, it could change his career. It's one of those kicks where, what I really liked about his response from the 52-yard miss, I believe. He showed a lot of character in that moment where he came back and hit two clutch ones. The one to tie it, and the one to win it. I think he showed the moxie he has and the confidence he's starting to gain. I think it was critical for him. It was awesome to see the kid and how he rebounded in that moment. I think what's even better is how his teammates reacted around him. I think that that is really cool. I think what a lot of people forget is that he was injured a lot last year, and he went through a tough time. Things like that happen in this league, and it's a matter of how you respond. He faced some adversity and he dug himself out of it and he's doing a really nice job."
One of those sacrifices he had to make when switching to the two-step was maybe a little bit of distance, but 59 yards would indicate that maybe he's getting more comfortable there. What have you seen in terms of his comfort level and distance with the two-step?
"I think maybe he is lost a little bit, but I don't think it's a ton. I think he's done a really good job. I think he's 90-plus percent since we've been here, and he's responded well to the situations we put him in. We try to create situations for him, and I really think that the two veteran guys that are snapping and holding for him have helped him a bunch too. As a group, they're responding. Obviously, there's some things to clean up as far as the three of us go, the three of them go, and it's something that we can do better all the time. So, it's just a matter of helping him, putting him in good situations and seeing how he responds. He has done a great job so far."
WR Skyy Moore had a big punt return recently. Any expectation for him to be utilizing the punt return on special teams?
"It's so new that it was last night. I'm excited to have him obviously, because he's a really talented guy. I evaluated him when he was coming out, and there's a reason why he went, I think the second round, right? Everything I hear about him is that he's a good kid, a pro and he's a worker. Obviously, he had the big return last week for the touchdown. Anytime you can get a guy back there with a bunch of juice, you like it. So, we'll see how this game goes, where it fits but I look forward to working with him for sure."
What kind of conversations are you having with Jake when he's going through that rollercoaster of a game?
"I put my arm around him and I said, 'hey man, we're going to come back to you and you're going to win this game and put that one away.' I think that's what any good kicker, you know, that's a lot of pressure, and when you miss one early, you never lose confidence because the kid missed one kick. I think it was 52-yarder or something like that too. So, like I said, I think he responded really well, but it's more trying to keep their confidence up and saying, 'hey man, one miss doesn't define you.' So, rebound, let's see what you got here and dig yourself out of it."
This morning president of football operations and general manager John Lynch said on KNBR that Skyy Moore's a dual returner. With the new rules, is it getting more difficult to find guys who can excel at both kickoff and punt return?
"It is. I would expect probably 70 to 75-plus percent are kick returns this year. It's going to be a big difference from last year. As we go to try to find two guys that can really do it, there's a lot of stuff to clean up that we've been running some really, really basic stuff just we can see who can play. I haven't been happy with the blocking that we've been doing. That definitely needs to improve. Doesn't seem like those guys have a lot of places to go, but we're also not running a ton of schemes that we'll run in the season. So, we'll see how that goes once we get there."
What are the adjustments for a college returner coming into a different return situation?
"Well, I think that NFL kickers are so much better than the college guys, for one. They have all the kicks from right to left and right on the sidelines. They have the aim right to pull left. They have the banana kicks that they aim over here, the ball spins and it'll drop really quick. They have so many kicks. It's crazy. They're not used to seeing those, then you play a guy like last week where he's hitting 5.4 hang times in practice to us. The leg talent is quite a bit different than you see in college. So, it's a big adjustment coming from college to the pros with all the different kicks you get. It's a huge adjustment for those guys back there. But [WR Junior] Bergen's done a really good job back there catching them and he's only had two opportunities to even return. One's a 28-yarder or whatever it was the first week, and last week he had a guy right in his lap as soon as he caught it so he didn't have an opportunity. But I think that's one part of our game, our return phases, are what I want to see improve based on what I've seen the last couple and definitely the blocking has to get better for sure."
What about the format of the kickoff return? Are the holes different? Is the vision different? The timing different?
"I think so. Obviously from what it used to be, for sure, but I think the guys are starting to get a pretty good feel for it the more reps that we take and stuff like that. I always say that the returner is the best blocker that you have, and we're trying to teach them how to set those blocks up and everything like that. I think that's critical for any young player to learn that. One of the best guys I've ever had is [Houston Texans WR Braxton] Berrios and [former NFL WR] Andre Roberts that that would set their blocks up really well and then make their cuts off of that. And it's no different than [RB Christian] McCaffrey doing it on offense. They press and cut and things like that. So, it's very similar in both ways."
CB Derrick Canteen is an undrafted rookie guy, but he's flashed at a couple points on special teams, is he a guy that can steal a spot on the 53 if he shows well here?
"I don't know how this is all going to shake out, but Canteen, I thought with several other young kids, have showed up really well. He is a smart kid. I've moved him around everywhere. I taught him 'PP' in three or four days, and he went home and studied it and stuff like that. That's hard to do. He got in there in a tough situation in the fourth quarter where we had to go in and play because we had injuries and things like that. He got in and did a good job with it. He is a very heady guy and he's a tackler and he can run. So, I think he has a future in this league at some point. I really do."
What makes DB Siran Neal such a good special teamer? It seems like he was brought here to do that role and it's hard to see if he's running with ones or twos. What makes him a good special teamer?
"Well, that's a really good question. I've played against him because he was in our division the whole time and we couldn't block him. And I think his overall mindset, it's kind of the mindset that we're trying to get here is that he knows what butters his bread, so to speak. He knows that special teams has been his ticket for his career, plus a little defense here and there. He is doing a really nice job, and he is learning the things that we're teaching him. So, it's a little adjustment for him. I think he's a Pro Bowl caliber guy in the regular season. I've had a Pro Bowl gunner that had some really big problems with him, couldn't get away from him when he was blocking our gunners and stuff like that on the other side. He's so big and he's long and he's fast, he's strong. He has been a leader so far in our room. So, it's been good to get him here and happy to have him on our side for sure instead of competing against him."