Raheem Mostert can benefit from Mitch Wishnowsky

One of the better gunners in the league combined with someone with potential to be a great punter? Oh man.

Some people like the fact the San Francisco 49ers took a punter in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft. Some people hate the fact the 49ers took a punter. Regardless of opinion, the 49ers snagged a shiny new punter to replace Bradley Pinion. With that said, we’ll give another reason to have a bit less hesitance towards Wishnowski

The thing about Wishnowsky is consistency. Of his 59 punts in 2018, he forced 24 kicks inside the 20-yard line and 25 fair catches. Yes there’s three blocks in there, but he’s either getting it to the 20-yard line where someone can take down the returner or he’s putting enough hangtime on it so the returner has to flag a fair catch.

Enter: Raheem Mostert. Mostert has been kept on the 49ers roster not for his running back skills (that did, however, come in handy for 2018) but for his usage as a special teams gunner. When Mostert went down with the broken forearm in 2018, his absence was felt by the very next game. When he can bullet down the field and take out the poor punt returner is where Mostert’s main skills lie.

Ahem, allow me:

Combine Wishnowsky’s tendency to pin teams past the 20 or at least have the hangtime to keep them from going anywhere, with a special teams gunner like Mostert who is going to blast anyone who thinks of trying to run with it, and the pass rushing skills of Nick Bosa and company, equals a potential recipe for turnovers.

If Wishnowsky can get in position to keep opposing offenses at the 10-yard line, this could be something to watch. An NFL playbook gets limited beyond an offense’s own 10-yard line and if the defensive line can shake things up like we all hope it can, the 49ers can get some pretty nice opportunities.

Or it could just not get any turnovers like in 2018…but let’s cross our fingers for this punter.