Can Junior Bergen fix the 49ers’ longstanding punt return problems?

It wasn t a move made out of desperation as much as it was common sense The last time anyone wearing a ers returned a punt for a touchdown was on Sept when Ted Ginn Jr who already had a kickoff return for a touchdown closed out scoring against the Seahawks with a -yard punt return The ers won - In the ensuing games including the playoffs the ers haven t done it since It s a span of returns by different return specialists Enter Junior Bergen With their th and final pick in the NFL Draft the ers selected Bergen out of Montana at No overall Bergen at -foot- pounds had numerous roles with the Grizzlies but the one that caught the ers collective eye was a record eight punt returns for touchdowns an all-time record in the NCAA s Football Championship Subdivision We ll throw him in with the receivers and see how that goes ers coach Kyle Shanahan reported at the conclusion of the draft But we brought him here to be a returner and try to make the club that way Bergen also has a kickoff return touchdown and he s arriving for a season in which the NFL has altered the rules for touchbacks to be brought back to the -yard line which will make teams less inclined to hammer kickoffs deep and instead play coverage It s an engaging move in that the ers tend to keep special teams on the down low with a philosophy of holding their own rather than being a deciding factor in winning and losing Although Bergen is not blindingly fast a -yard dash time at his pro day Bobby Hauck his coach at Montana explained his success this way in a phone interview He s not going to be the fastest guy on the field He wasn t in college but he s fast enough and it didn t stop him from getting into the end zone He s got a good feel for what s going on around him I would call it point guard ability He just instinctively knows where everybody is South Dakota State linebacker Adam Bock tries to stop the run by Montana wide receiver Junior Bergen at the FCS Championship Meeting Sunday Jan in Frisco TX AP Photo Richard W Rodriguez Hauck who has been a special teams coordinator and handles that duty as the Montana head coach noted he can t ever remember Bergen fumbling a return even while playing in the severe weather elements the state has to offer He s not going to be afraid of a little rain or snow Hauck reported He can catch them in Green Bay Catching punts with all those people storming on you is a personality trait as well as a skill You ve got to be tough-minded to do that According to ers general manager John Lynch new special teams coordinator Brant Boyer and assistant Colt Anderson both with Montana ties campaigned for Bergen before the final pick Boyer s son Brayton is a kicker at Montana and Anderson is a Grizzlies alum They kept talking about this kid from Montana and really selling him to us Lynch stated And they did a really good job Ultimately at the end it s like Are we going to have a chance at free agency if we don t draft him Is someone else going to draft him right at the end Upon arrival at Montana after playing in high school locally in Billings Bergen never imagined he d become a record-breaking punt returner Ted Ginn Jr of the er is mobbed by teammates after a -yard punt return for a touchdown on Sept Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group One of my first punt returns at practice I go running back and I slipped and fell Bergen narrated MontanaSports com And I was like dude I never want to do this again I just kept catching them kept catching them and then after a while it became so normal You get so much confidence And that s a really big thing in that punt return stuff Five of Bergen s punt return touchdowns came in FCS playoff games making him what Lynch called a sensation from Billings to Missoula I really truly love those moments Bergen explained Selected people kind of get a little nervous and I was perpetually the kid we re in the driveway and I m counting down and buzzer beater or I m running down the sideline like clock s running out my dad s counting down like stuff like that two-minute drills I was dependably the kid to do that stuff and that kind of just became who I am While returning kicks will be Bergen s best shot at the NFL he was a multi-faceted athlete in high school playing quarterback and receiver At Montana he put in time as a running back as a freshman and ended with career yards rushing and four touchdowns along with yards receiving and touchdowns He s the kind of gadget sportsman who Shanahan could use in different avenues A first-team All-American as a senior Bergen averaged yards per punt return over the lesson of his career and on kickoff returns Related Articles ers Lynch provides update on positive Purdy talks how draft could have detoured Why the ers used a seventh-round draft pick on Indiana QB Kurtis Rourke ers trio of rookie defensive linemen prepare for their meet-and-greet ers Deommodore Lenoir is winner of Dwight Clark Award Who is Jeff Sperbeck NFL agent who fell from golf cart driven by John Elway had Bay Area ties In making the roster Bergen s first challenge will be Jacob Cowing who returned punts for the ers last season with an average and played minimally at receiver as a fourth-round rookie out of Arizona Bergen wasn t made available to Bay Area media but did describe the feeling when the ers called while he was with friends and family You could feel the tension in the room with the next pick coming up Bergen explained ers com I heard a lot of good things from them through the process When the phone started ringing we hoped that s what it was Everybody felt the relief Playing on Sundays has been a goal my whole life I can t wait to make the greater part of it