Getty Mitch Wishnowsky of the San Francisco 49ers.
After turning in a solid effort in Week 1, the San Francisco 49ers have officially locked down punter Mitch Wishnowsky to a new, four-year extension that runs through the 2026 season, according to Ian Rapoport. The deal is worth an average of $3 million per year according to Rapoport’s sources and holds a maximum of $13 million in new money if he plays through the entire contract.
Since being drafted with the 110th overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft, Wishnowsky has appeared in 50 games, scored four points on one field goal attempt and two extra pointers, and has been a fixture of the team’s kickoff and punting units, where he’s averaged 63.1 yards and 45.5 yards respectively.
49ers Punter Has Outperformed Draft Expectations
Though some questioned at the time whether using a fourth-round pick on a punter was the best allocation of resources, Lance Zierlein of NFL.com‘s draft profile graded Wishnowsky as a draftable player well worthy of a top-200 pick.
Wishnowsky’s punting style is more about control than power and once he gets into the league and eliminates the Aussie punts, we will see his hang time take a big step up. While teams might like to see a little more leg from him when it is time to flip the field, his consistency and ability to work with control as a pooch punter will be more meaningful.
Even if the Niners selected Wishnowsky 29 picks higher than Zierlein would have, it’s clear the pick worked out in San Francisco’s favor, as only 23 of the 35 players selected in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL draft remain on an active roster according to Pro Football Reference.
Wishnowsky Took a Very Unusual Path to the NFL
When Wishnowsky was drafted out of Utah, he spoke about his past, present, and future in the game of football during his post-selection conference call with reporters. He discussed his time growing up in Australia, to his abilities as a kickoff specialist, to the time he almost pursued being a glass installer instead of a professional football player, as transcribed by Niners Nation:
So I played Australian League football and had a few shoulder injuries. I had two operations on my left shoulder, which sort of took me out of the action in the Aussie rules football. And then I sort of just for fun would go down and play flag American football with a couple of my mates at a park, and basically was seen there punting and messing around by a guy called Craig Wilson, who knows Nathan Chapman and John Smith at ProKick Australia, and then a few months later I was out fishing and got a call from John, and John told me he would change my life, send me to America, all that good stuff. I went home, told my folks that John Smith is going to send me to America, and they thought I was smoking something. I ended up just handing in my resignation at work, moving to Melbourne for a year to train and learn the standard two-punt spiral because we sort of learned to punt on the run in Australian football. Yeah, moved to Santa Barbara to junior college, played one year, did 18 months to finish my AA degree and then went to Utah for three.
Considering his new contract, it’s clear Wishnowsky made the right choice.