Niners Nation
Robert Saleh and Brant Boyer have brought over players from the Jets whom they are confident can help the team.
fDefensive coordinator Robert Saleh and special teams coordinator Brant Boyer have added three former members of the New York Jets to the San Francisco 49ers in about a week.
Initially, the most significant move came when the Niners released Mitch Wishnowsky earlier this week in a move that was mildly surprising after an injury-plagued season that saw him have one of the lowest averages of any punter in the NFL. In fact, Wishnowsky had the seventh-lowest average of any punter in the league during the past decade.
Some believed Wishnowsky was let go due to chronic back issues. However, head coach Kyle Shanahan said the decision to release Wishnowsky was not health-related:
“He is healthy. So, he’s going to go to a team and help a team out a lot. But those are things you’ve always got to predict. You don’t know how those things go, and you’ve got to take the risk-reward and something that to me wasn’t a big risk or worth the risk until someone like Morstead becomes available. And that put us on where we needed to make a decision.”
Wishnowsky hadn’t missed a game since joining the 49ers in 2019 up until last season. The injury, paired with his stats and inconsistencies, made Mitch expendable in the eyes of Boyer.
Shanahan said that Thomas Morstead becoming available and his familiarity with Boyer ultimately led to Wishnowsky’s release:
“Well, I mean he definitely has the most expertise in the building. So, I always tend to lean towards whoever has the most expertise. But it’s got to make sense. We’ve all got to agree with it. And it was really hard to cut ties with [P] Mitch [Wishnowsky]. I love Mitch. He’s one of my favorite guys I’ve been around, especially from a special team standpoint and punter standpoint. He’s such a football player in how he plays. The guys love him. But when you just look into contract situations, how last year went and things, the fact that [P Thomas] Morstead became available, [special teams coordinator] Brant [Boyer] being so familiar with him and having that relationship, it ended up making it a decision that wasn’t easy, but we felt all confident it was best for our team.”
The second former Jet the Niners brought over is Chazz Surratt, who played a decent amount in 2024. Surratt played on four different special teams units and played 113 snaps on defense. His season high defensively was 19 snaps in a game.
To his credit, when Surratt played, he was around the ball. He had four tackles in two separate games. Saleh selected Surratt during his first NFL Draft as a head coach in the third round, suggesting Surratt has a better chance of contributing with the 49ers than one would think of a player signed after Memorial Day.
However, Surratt is on the smaller side. When he...
