Ted Ginn Jr. named starting punt returner

Yesterday, Mike Singletary announced that Ted Ginn Jr. was going to be the teams primary punt returner against the Seahawks.  This is not exactly what everyone thought was going to happen once the season started.  During the preseason Singletary said that he wanted Ginn to focus on being a wide receiver and just doing kickoff returns and was looking for someone else to be their punt returner.

It appeared that wide receiver Kyle Williams was on his way for that role before he was injured in the first preseason game.  Then cornerback Phillip Adams had looked good in that role and it appeared he was going to be the 49ers punt returner going into the first game. 

Singletary stated that he spoke with special teams coordinator and they just felt more comfortable with Ginn back there returning punts.  He left it open for Adams to possibly still return punts.

During the offseason the 49ers traded with the Miami Dolphins for Ted Ginn Jr. in order to shore up the punt and kick return game that had been atrocious last year for the 49ers.  Ginn has a lot of experience returning punts and kicks when he was at Ohio State and then later when he was with the Dolphins.  During three years with the Dolphins, Ginn returned 147 kickoffs with an average of 23 yards/return and scored two touchdowns and has returned 36 punts for an average of 8.7/return with one touchdown.

In 2009, the 49ers averaged 4.4 yards/return on the punt returns which put that in last place in the NFL and on kickoff returns they averaged 21.8 yards/return which was 23rd in the NFL.