Richard Hightower-Chicago Bears Special Teams Coach

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by StubbyNBY:

Originally posted by NCommand:

Shanahan said that he wants the punt returner to be one of the WRs or CB who made the 53 because he doesn't want to carve out an extra roster spot.

Then he said, with a smile: "I think you can figure it out."

Related note: Brandon Aiyuk is on the 49ers' 53-man roster

— David Lombardi (@LombardiHimself) September 1, 2021

Fair Katch King.

I think Sanu will be our punt returner

Keep an eye on Isaiah Zuber. He was a PS addition from the Patriots and a pretty good punt returner while at Kansas State. Ideal fit as a slot receiver in this offense as well. Could see him getting on to the full roster at some point.

Isaiah Zuber punt return TD
vs South Dakota 2018 pic.twitter.com/6eur23ajuQ

— Clint The K-State Fan (@Thekstatefan2) March 18, 2021

Isaiah Zuber turning on the jets on the 72 yard touchdown pass from Alex Delton. Zuber had a career high 144 yards receiving and two TDs.@Zuber_7More#KStateFB pic.twitter.com/gLacdM57PW

— Pete Francis (@Pete_Francis) September 16, 2018

Patriots fans were kind of miffed that Zuber ended up being cut instead of N'Keal Harry as he had a really nice preseason.

This is very interesting. Thanks for the insight on Zuber.

I love the Kyle says that we should be able to figure out who the returner is ........ but no one can.

Hopefully it's BA

This dude continues to blow. Ambry Thomas looks slow as hell as a kickoff returner and as ALWAYS, the first defender down makes the tackle which means we continue to suck at blocking. Robbie with another miss.

Fair catch King. This unit still needs a ton of work.

Wish had a nice day though!

Originally posted by NinerGM:

Originally posted by NCommand:
This dude continues to blow. Ambry Thomas looks slow as hell as a kickoff returner and as ALWAYS, the first defender down makes the tackle which means we continue to suck at blocking. Robbie with another miss.

Fair catch King. This unit still needs a ton of work.

Wish had a nice day though!

The most unprepared unit by a mile.

I didn't even mention the onsides muff by Kittle.

Originally posted by NinerGM:

Originally posted by NCommand:
This dude continues to blow. Ambry Thomas looks slow as hell as a kickoff returner and as ALWAYS, the first defender down makes the tackle which means we continue to suck at blocking. Robbie with another miss.

Fair catch King. This unit still needs a ton of work.

Wish had a nice day though!

The most unprepared unit by a mile.

In fairness I think Mitchell would have been the KR if mostert didn't get hurt. Had to go to Thomas with Mitchell being the lead back

Originally posted by goatroppolo:

Originally posted by NinerGM:

Originally posted by NCommand:
This dude continues to blow. Ambry Thomas looks slow as hell as a kickoff returner and as ALWAYS, the first defender down makes the tackle which means we continue to suck at blocking. Robbie with another miss.

Fair catch King. This unit still needs a ton of work.

Wish had a nice day though!

The most unprepared unit by a mile.

In fairness I think Mitchell would have been the KR if mostert didn't get hurt. Had to go to Thomas with Mitchell being the lead back

Yeah, that's a possibility for sure. That said, it really doesn't matter who returns when their gunner makes the tackle 100% of the time.

Can Hasty return punts? he looks shifty.

our KR is putrid … < 20 yard average per KR 🤯
kr blocking ? Abysmal 😫
FG kicker? Range limited
PR ? Hasn't done squat in years.. including first game
PR blocking ?? Crap
Kickoff coverage ? Ok..
kickoffs? Only took one kick to demote wishnowsky as he could not reach the end zone and they had to turn it over to Gould 🥺 not smart to stress old guys legs

PR coverage ? Meeh

punting? Shaky! Twice had chance to pin lions inside their 10 but punted to the 14 yard line from midfield 😡

putting Kittle as receiving specialist? Dumb

How does Hightower keep employment ?

To make playoffs and a deep run, it usually helps to have good and opportunistic plays in special teams. I really don't have any hope that our units will be anywhere near top 15. It's amazing how this guy keeps his job 🤷🏽‍♂️

Originally posted by eman:
our KR is putrid … < 20 yard average per KR 🤯
kr blocking ? Abysmal 😫
FG kicker? Range limited
PR ? Hasn't done squat in years.. including first game
PR blocking ?? Crap
Kickoff coverage ? Ok..
kickoffs? Only took one kick to demote wishnowsky as he could not reach the end zone and they had to turn it over to Gould 🥺 not smart to stress old guys legs

PR coverage ? Meeh

punting? Shaky! Twice had chance to pin lions inside their 10 but punted to the 14 yard line from midfield 😡

putting Kittle as receiving specialist? Dumb

How does Hightower keep employment ?

To make playoffs and a deep run, it usually helps to have good and opportunistic plays in special teams. I really don't have any hope that our units will be anywhere near top 15. It's amazing how this guy keeps his job 🤷🏽‍♂️

It would be nice if you said how you really feel. They graded out at a D. Are you saying they should be an F?

Should he be renamed Lowdungeon.

In the last presser there were a couple of things that stood out to me.
- He reads Polls on the opposition STeams and listens to inner NFL circles.
- Both Mitch and Robbie can't always kick it out of the end zone on kick offs?
- He makes as much sense as most politicians
- There are situations where situationally you have to respond to the situation.

Originally posted by KeepRabbitsOut:
In the last presser there were a couple of things that stood out to me.
- He reads Polls on the opposition STeams and listens to inner NFL circles.
- Both Mitch and Robbie can't always kick it out of the end zone on kick offs?
- He makes as much sense as most politicians
- There are situations where situationally you have to respond to the situation.

He said Mitch and Gould can't always kick it out of the end zone? I thought that was probably the case for Gould as he doesn't do it often plus his leg is only so strong but with Mitch, I thought any shorter kickoffs in the field of play were intentional to try to pin teams to worse field position than starting at the 25. I just assumed Mitch had the leg & technique to put it through the end zone at any time.

Originally posted by KeepRabbitsOut:
In the last presser there were a couple of things that stood out to me.
- He reads Polls on the opposition STeams and listens to inner NFL circles.
- Both Mitch and Robbie can't always kick it out of the end zone on kick offs?
- He makes as much sense as most politicians
- There are situations where situationally you have to respond to the situation.

Both mitch and Gould can kick it out of the EZ. But they don't as most good teams now do the same thing. The trick is kicking it exactly to the 1 to 3 yd line where they have to take it out. And if you note, you will see that most of the time balls returned rarely get back to the 25 and frequently don't make it to the 20. The Bears, Lions, Jags, all the bottom of the barrel teams kick it out of the EZ.

Can't say much about the other points but this one is Kyle's and it is definitely intentional.

Originally posted by pasodoc9er:

Originally posted by KeepRabbitsOut:
In the last presser there were a couple of things that stood out to me.
- He reads Polls on the opposition STeams and listens to inner NFL circles.
- Both Mitch and Robbie can't always kick it out of the end zone on kick offs?
- He makes as much sense as most politicians
- There are situations where situationally you have to respond to the situation.

Both mitch and Gould can kick it out of the EZ. But they don't as most good teams now do the same thing. The trick is kicking it exactly to the 1 to 3 yd line where they have to take it out. And if you note, you will see that most of the time balls returned rarely get back to the 25 and frequently don't make it to the 20. The Bears, Lions, Jags, all the bottom of the barrel teams kick it out of the EZ.

Can't say much about the other points but this one is Kyle's and it is definitely intentional.

Not quite the way I heard what Hightower said.

Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.

Reporter: The only time you guys get seem to get stung on a kickoff return is when a guy returns it out of the end zone. Why not just kick it into the end zone and take it at the 25-yard line every time?

Richard Hightower: "Yeah, it depends. I think a lot of times, a lot of people try to get it out of the back of the end zone. And we've had times when we're trying to get it out the back of the end zone. We've had times when it doesn't go out the back of the end zone. And I think guys will try to kick it out the back of the end zone. We don't really tell our opponents or give away a competitive advantage when we're doing it or when we're not doing it. But yeah, people say that all the time and then people will tackle them inside the 10 and say, why don't you kick it in play all the time, if you can tackle them inside the 10. You would love to kick it out the back every time, but it just unfortunately doesn't happen all the time."

So in effect Hightower is saying the call is to kick it out of the end zone EVERY TIME. Absolute genius idea. Here they are playing checkers while we are expecting their queen to take the rook.

I never expect anything special to happen on special teams while this dude is here and under Kyles watch.

Originally posted by KeepRabbitsOut:
In the last presser there were a couple of things that stood out to me.
- He reads Polls on the opposition STeams and listens to inner NFL circles.
- Both Mitch and Robbie can't always kick it out of the end zone on kick offs?
- He makes as much sense as most politicians
- There are situations where situationally you have to respond to the situation.

Yeah, I'm not a fan. He seems like Kyle's good ol" boy more than anything.