SANTA CLARA — A football training camp practice without pads can be an exercise in tedium.
According to tight end George Kittle, it’s not real football. Coach Kyle Shanahan isn’t a fan either.
“I hate practicing without pads. It just worries me. So, I just want to follow these rules, get to the pads so it’s a little safer with protection,” Shanahan said Wednesday after the 49ers’ first day of practice. “You have a chance to block people. You can start just getting more ready for football. It’s hard day one, everyone’s ready to go but still got to be patient. So, I just try to stay as relaxed as possible to get in this groove and usually we are by next week.”
Pads won’t be on until Monday after a lead-in of four days without pads as mandated by the NFLPA collective bargaining agreement.
Saving the day in terms of interest on Day 1 was the 49ers’ work on special teams, an area they’ve been criticized for treating as an afterthought.
It was hard not to notice that when place kickers Jake Moody and Greg Joseph began alternating field goal attempts about midway through a brisk, no-contact hour-and-a-half practice that the interest of both players and coaches had been piqued.
With no holdouts or hold-ins and no big surprises in terms of players missing time because of injuries, Moody and Joseph took center stage — or as close to center stage as you can get during special teams practice.
With Shanahan, general manager John Lynch and defensive coordinator Robert Saleh watching together from a distance of about 25 yards, new special teams coordinator Brant Boyer was in the middle of the action supervising.
In past years, kickers would alternate days and there was never any question Moody would be the regular-season place kicker in 2023 and 2024. This year on some days the two will kick against each other.
“It all depends on the reps we give them and stuff and Brant decides on that how he wants to do it, so he can do it over the course of time,” Shanahan said. “So, it’s not just always day-to-day. We can stack these up and see who has the better camp. But I think between the two of them, I think they missed one in OTAs. So, they’ve both been kicking real well and it should be a really good battle this camp.”
For the record, starting with 28-yard attempts and moving the distance back four times until it reached the 45, Moody and Joseph were both perfect.
“I actually paid attention,” defensive end Nick Bosa said after the 49ers’ first practice of training camp. “I can’t lie. It’s kind of exciting.”
Draftniks recoiled in horror when Moody was a third-round draft pick (No. 99 overall) out of Michigan in 2023. A kicker in the third round? For shame.
After going 21-for-25 as a rookie on a team that scored a lot of touchdowns, Moody was 24-for-34 last season. All 10 misses were from 40 yards and beyond, but in fairness Moody was drafted specifically to make long-distance kicks in addition to the gimmes his predecessor Robbie Gould made with machine-like accuracy.
Some of that was on the 49ers. When Moody sustained a high ankle sprain making a tackle on a kickoff return — yes, the 49ers coverage until had failed to do its job — in Week 5 against the Arizona Cardinals, his season went off the rails.
Moody was 13-for-14 before missing three games in favor of Matthew Wright and Anders Carlson. Wright, like Moody, was hurt on a tackle attempt because of a blown coverage. Upon his return, Moody was 9-for-20, including three misses against Tampa Bay, a game he won on a 44-yard field goal in overtime.
Coach Kyle Shanahan authorized wholesale changes to the 49ers’ special teams including hiring coordinator Brant Boyer. Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group
Even that game came with special teams anguish, with Deebo Samuel taking exception to a Moody miss with a slap on the helmet, prompting a reaction from long-snapper Taybor Pepper.
It’s fair to speculate Moody was kicking sooner than he should have after a high ankle sprain. Joseph, 30, has played for six teams and three just last season — going 16-for-20 for the Giants, Commanders and Jets.
Samuel is no longer around, and neither is Pepper or punter Mitch Wishnowsky. Moody will have to beat out Joseph to keep his job, and Wednesday was just the start of a competition that should bring some drama to the 49ers’ three exhibition games.
Shanahan has been clear on his special teams philosophy — he’s not looking to win the game in that area as much as break even and not lose it. But the 49ers were horrific in just about every area of special teams last season, and Shanahan went full speed ahead in his desire to improve.
It started with the dismissal of special teams coordinator Brian Schneider and the hiring of Boyer, who was the New York Jets’ special teams coordinator from 2016 through 2014.
George Odum, a special teams captain, was released before camp began. Boyer brought in his own punter (Thomas Morstead) to replace Wishnowsky and a long-snapper (Jon Weeks) to replace Pepper. Cornerback Siran Neal and linebacker Luke Gifford were signed primarily as special teams players.
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“I think that’s a sign that this organization takes special teams seriously and I think it’s really positive,” Boyer said on May 8.
Tight end Luke Farrell, signed as a free agent, plays special teams, and Boyer advocated for the selection of Montana’s Junior Bergen in the seventh round to compete on both punt returns and kickoff returns.
Bergen was fielding punts Wednesday along with rookie Jordan Watkins and second-year receiver Jacob Cowing before Cowing went out with a hamstring strain.
Whether Boyer and an influx of new talent can reverse the 49ers’ special teams fortunes — their last punt return for a touchdown was by Ted Ginn Jr, in 2011 — remains to be seen.
“In this league, you’ve got win two out of three phases, whether that’s special teams/offense, special teams/defense or offense/defense,” Boyer said. “I’m here to create a culture that it shouldn’t be like punishment to play special teams.”