The San Francisco 49ers signed 39-year-old punter Thomas Morstead with OTAs underway:

Special teams coordinator Brant Boyer has seen Morstead up close and personal on the Jets the previous two seasons.

Morstead averaged 47.2 yards per punt last season, which was about four yards further than Wishnowsky in 2024. In fairness to Wishnowsky, he was dealing with an injury that gave him one of the lowest net punts in the NFL. Still, he had only eclipsed 47.2 yards per punt just once since entering the NFL in 2019.

Interestingly, this move comes one day after the 49ers held their first OTA practice. Perhaps whatever Wishnowsky showed was enough to make Boyer want to sign someone he’s familiar with after one session. This also could have been the plan all along, as was the case with Jake Moody, where the Niners brought in a player to push the starter.

According to Sports Info Solutions, Wishnowsky was the fourth-worst punter in the NFL by their metrics. Morstead wasn’t far behind at the eighth-worst.

No punter had fewer kicks land inside the 20 last season than Wishnowsky at five. But when you break it down by percentage, 26 percent of Wishnowsky’s kicks landed inside the 20 compared to just 22 percent of Morstead’s.

Boyer knows if Morstead, who had one of the longest punts in the NFL last season of 75, can execute the game plan. The same cannot be said for Wishnowsky, with whom Boyer has no ties. This move could also serve as insurance for Wishnowsky, who missed eight games last year due to a back injury.