Punters get drafted in the fourth round, too.
The San Francisco 49ers used the eighth pick in the fourth round in the 2019 NFL Draft to select punter Mitch Wishnowsky on Saturday.
The former Utah booter was the 2016 Ray Guy Award Winner, a 2018 second-team All-American and three-time first-team All-Pac-12.
Born in Perth, Australia, Wishnowsky continues the trend of Aussie punters taking over American football.
According to NFL draft analyst Lance Zierlein, Wishnowsky owns good size and athletic ability to corral bad snaps. The punter also snuffs out returns with good hang-time, allowing fewer than 100 total return yards over the last 106 punts.
Surely 49ers GM John Lynch will get a few side eyes for using a fourth-round selection on a punter, but Wishnowsky should immediately take over the punting gig from Justin Vogel, who signed a one-year contract in March. As Seahawks punter Michael Dickson (fifth rounder) showed us last year, Aussie booters can be weapons in the NFL too.
Kicker Matt Gay, Wishnowsky's former Utah teammate, was selected in the fifth round by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This marks the first time since 1985 that a kicker and punter from the same school were selected in the same draft.
