SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- As the San Francisco 49ers embarked on an offseason overhaul, every move they made was with an eye toward making their aging roster younger.
Almost.
While the Niners waved goodbye to veterans via free agency, release and/or trade and made a series of low-cost additions, one of those moves was not like the others.
On March 13, the 49ers released long snapper Taybor Pepper after five seasons with the team.
To replace Pepper, 30, the Niners signed Jon Weeks, a 39-year-old who is entering his 16th NFL season. It was the one move that directly contradicted nearly everything else San Francisco set out to do at the start of the new league year.
"I give our special teams coaches a hard time," general manager John Lynch said, chuckling. "We're trying to get younger. We go sign a 39-year-old long snapper, but he's got one job and that's to get it back."
While Weeks brings experience, the message his addition sent was more meaningful than the transaction itself. That message? It's a new day for a special teams unit that was the worst in the league in 2024 and is now being run by coordinator Brant Boyer after the firing of Brian Schneider.
"Our guys have got a lot of belief in Brant Boyer," Lynch said.
Perhaps the change in guard was lost in the midst of the flurry of offseason comings and goings, but it was no coincidence that Boyer's hiring was announced almost in tandem with the return of defensive coordinator Robert Saleh.
Boyer ran the special teams for the New York Jets from 2016 to 2024, working with Saleh from 2021 to the early stages of last season when Saleh was the head coach. During his time in New York, Boyer's unit tied for second in total touchdowns (nine), second in blocked punts (eight) and tied for fifth in lowest opponent kick return average (21.8). Cumulatively, Boyer's unit was 14th in the NFL in expected points added via special teams.
In San Francisco, Boyer takes over a unit that finished last in the league in special teams EPA (negative-47.67) last season, which was nearly 24 points worse than the next-closest team (the Atlanta Falcons). Since 2016, the 49ers are 27th in the NFL in cumulative special teams EPA.
As the Niners tumbled to 6-11 and out of the postseason in 2024, the special teams unit was often a culprit in some of the team's closest defeats. Whether it was missed field goals, successful fake punts allowed, costly penalties or muffed returns, just about everything that could go wrong did.
"I don't know what's said in the past or what's done in the past," Boyer said. "I'm here to do a job and my job is to help this team win, period. In this league, you've got win two out of three phases, whether that's special teams/offense, special teams/defense or offense/defense. You've got to win two out of three. I'm here to do the best job I can, create a culture that it shouldn't be like punishment to play special teams."
For many coaches, that's an easy enough message to convey but it's not just lip service for Boyer, who has lived and breathed special teams for his entire NFL life.
Boyer entered the NFL as a linebacker taken in the sixth round by the Miami Dolphins in the 1994 NFL draft. From there, he carved out an 11-year career by committing himself to being a stalwart on special teams. He played one season in Miami followed by six with the Jacksonville Jaguars and four more with the Cleveland Browns. He made 55 special teams tackles with a forced fumble over his final four seasons and finished his career with 250 tackles, 13 sacks and six interceptions in 129 career games.
Add it all up and you can find a simple explanation for why, when Boyer was asked last week the one thing he most needs to fix most on the 49ers' special teams, his answer was more all-encompassing.
"Overall mindset," Boyer said. "At the end of the day, this is a violent game played by men, and special teams is a one-on-one matchup 90-percent of the time. And it's either you or him. And what it comes down to and that's my whole mindset that I'm trying to get these guys to understand is, it's either you or me and it's going to be you, period."
Among the primary objectives for Boyer this offseason and into the year is helping kicker Jake Moody bounce back from a disappointing second season in which he ranked 35th in the NFL in field goal percentage among kickers with at least 10 field goal attempts. Moody, a third-round pick in the 2023 NFL draft, made just 11 of his 20 field goal attempts after returning from a high ankle sprain in Week 10.
While Lynch and Shanahan have indicated that the team would add another kicker to compete with Moody, that hasn't happened yet. When asked about Moody, Boyer offered a vote of confidence and expressed optimism that better health and bringing in Weeks as his long snapper could help Moody realize the potential that made him so coveted in the draft.
"There isn't a special teams coach in this league that didn't have him rated number one coming out, that I know of," Boyer said. "He's as talented a kid as it gets... I think that if the kid gets his mind right, which I think he's doing, he's doing a hell of a job for us so far. I think he'll do a heck of a job for us. I really do."
While the 49ers haven't added any kickers to battle with Moody yet, the few moves they did make were largely special teams-centric. In addition to Weeks, Boyer advocated for the signings of linebacker Luke Gifford and defensive backs Siran Neal and Richie Grant and pushed for the team to spend its final pick in the draft, No. 252 overall, on Montana returner Junior Bergen.
"I think you see some of the needs hopefully getting addressed," Boyer said. "I think that's a sign that this organization takes special teams seriously."
The proof, of course, will come as the season arrives as the onus falls to Boyer to steer San Francisco's special teams out of the NFL basement.