Former San Francisco 49ers punter Mitch Wishnowsky has signed with the Washington Commanders.
He will join Washington's practice squad after serving as the punter in San Francisco for many seasons.
P Mitch Wishnowsky, 49ers fourth-round pick in 2019, resurfaces with Adam Peters and the Commanders. He signs with Washington’s practice squad.
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) September 10, 2025
Wishnowsky was drafted by San Francisco back in 2019 in the fourth round of the NFL Draft and was a solid punter for a long time with the Niners. The Australian had some very memorable moments in the red and gold like when he made a gritty rugby-style tackle on a kickoff or when he went rogue and did a fake punt on his own back in 2023.
The 33-year-old appeared in every game for San Francisco from 2019 to 2023, but last season, he dealt with injuries and the 49ers had to turn to Pat O'Donnell for punt duties.
In the offseason, the Niners hired Brant Boyer to be their special teams coordinator, and he basically cleaned house, getting rid of long-snapper Taybor Pepper as well as Wishnowsky. That special teams exodus is now complete as Jake Moody has been let go as well.
Boyer was brought in to clean up a special teams unit that was simply atrocious last season. The Niners were just plain bad at every phase of special teams whether it was punting, field goals, kick offs, returning kicks and punts. Across the board, it was bad, and if Week 1 against Seattle this season is any indication, it may not get all that much better.
Moody was terrible in Week 1, which led the Niners to move on from him, but at least Wishnowsky's replacement, veteran Thomas Morstead, did not royally mess anything up with his punts.
Boyer is familiar with Morstead from their time together on the New York Jets, so one hopes that they will at least be somewhat capable at punting the ball this season.
The Niners also brought in Eddy Piñeiro as their new kicker to replace Moody, and Boyer is familiar with him as well.
Wishnowsky is gone and with the Commanders now where he may struggle to get a ton of playing time since he is a punter on the practice squad. Yet, it at least continues the pipeline of former Niners going to the Commanders like Deebo Samuel, who had a solid Week 1 with his new squad, or Brain Robinson coming to San Francisco.
San Francisco's special teams shakeup is now complete, so we will see if that means there will be better results going forward.