Siran Neal: The Special-Teams Sensation: 49ers Sign Ace to Two-Year Deal
At the Combine last month, 49ers general manager John Lynch said the 49ers want to become younger and more cost-efficient.
Turns out, they just want to be more cost-efficient.
They just signed 30-year-old special teams ace Siran Neal to a two-year deal. This move comes a few days after the 49ers signed 33-year-old fullback Kyle Juszczyk to a two-year deal.
Neal was selected by the Bills in the fifth round of the 2018 NFL Draft, and he played for them until 2024 when he signed with the Miami Dolphins. Now, he’s on his third team.
To be fair, Neal is a quality special teams player and the 49ers need to get better in that phase of their team. Last year, they had one of the worst special teams in the league. That’s why they fired special teams coordinator Brian Schneider and replaced him with former New York Jets special teams coordinator Brant Boyer.
Boyer has been working hard to make over his new unit. Last week, the 49ers released long-snapper Taybor Pepper, who’s 30, and replaced him with Jon Weeks, who’s 39. So the 49ers keep getting older.
It’s good that the 49ers are taking special teams so seriously this offseason and using lots of their limited budget on it. But they still haven’t made the one big move they need to make, which is to release kicker Jake Moody.
The 49ers can swap out the long-snapper and bring in some better tacklers, but as long as that head case keeps missing field goals, the 49ers special teams will stink and the entire locker room will be demoralized.
