Skyy Moore emerging as crucial weapon for 49ers amid special teams resurgence

It would be fair to say that the 49ers’ decision to acquire wide receiver and return man Skyy Moore from the Kansas City Chiefs in the offseason was not one met with fanfare. Derision and raised eyebrows were the primary responses at the time, even with San Francisco light on receiver depth.

Moore’s impact as a receiver has been minimal but, after another huge effort in the return game in Sunday’s comfortable 26-8 win over the Cleveland Browns, there can be no doubt those who questioned his acquisition were incorrect to do so.

Indeed, Moore has developed into a substantial asset for the 49ers, one who can consistently put them in strong starting field position and produce field-flipping returns that lead to points.

Having produced a 99-yard opening kickoff return in the Week 11 win over the Arizona Cardinals, Moore keyed a fast start by San Francisco against the Browns, returning a Cleveland punt 66 yards to set up a touchdown run for Christian McCaffrey.

It was one of the highlights from an excellent special teams performance from the 49ers, who also recovered a muffed punt in the fourth quarter, with Moore receiving substantial praise after the game from his head coach and teammates.

Said head coach Kyle Shanahan of Moore:

“I think Skyy’s been awesome. We keep saying we’ve been feeling him for a while now, getting better and better. Every time he gets the ball, we feel he’s got a chance to go. Our goal this week was to score on special teams, which he got real close again. But as long as you end up scoring on offense and that big one then it doesn’t matter. So we told him thanks for allowing the offense to get those points because that was huge in this game.”

McCaffrey, the primary beneficiary of Moore’s returns having also scored in Arizona following his return, was also extremely complimentary of the former second-round pick.

“This entire year any time he gets the ball I just love the way he hits it. You know, he’s built for this team,” said McCaffrey.

“He plays with zero hesitation and it’s good to see him break for some of these long ones because for the whole first half of the year we were like, ‘He’s hitting it the right way.’ Every time the ball is in his hands he’s playing with no hesitation, he’s fast, and he’s physical, and he runs really hard.

“We knew it was just a matter of time before some of these big ones were gonna start to hit, and he’s been doing a hell of a job putting us in a great position.”

Moore’s success in creating excellent field position is putting him in rarefied air in 49ers history in terms of the numbers.

Indeed, Moore is averaging 28.1 yards per kickoff return, the most by a 49er (min. 20 attempts) since Vic Washington (28.6) in the 1972 season.

As a punt returner, Moore’s average is 12.1 yards, which is the most since Tedd Ginn Jr. averaged 12.3 in the 2011 season.

The revitalization of the special teams has played a huge role in the 49ers going 9-4 through 13 games. In a season in which the defense has been held back by injuries and the offense has had to go through much of the year without its quarterback, the special teams has helped elevate San Francisco. Having long since been a hindrance for the 49ers, special teams is now an area in which they can hurt other teams.

Said Shanahan of the special teams

“I think they have been a weapon. You know, probably at least this last month. Both returns, you know whether it’s the kick return or whether it’s the punt return. We made some big plays in that, and we made some big plays at some important times too. The biggest challenge today, what we’re saying with the special teams, was that we’re hoping to get some big plays, but also not making any dumb plays with penalties and things like that. We had one, which ended up giving them a two-point conversion, which was disappointing. But besides that one, I think we were pretty clean the rest of the day.”

The 49ers have largely avoided the errors on special teams, with Moore drastically increasing the upside for San Francisco in that area of the game. Sometimes, it’s the unheralded trades that can prove to be the most impactful, and that is proving to be the case with Moore. His acquisition was a move made on the margins but, as the 49ers approach the final four games of the regular season with the playoffs in sight, he is having much more than a marginal influence on their excellent fortunes.