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Yesterday, I took a look at the 49ers offense and defense, and broke down the players who were arrow up, the players who were arrow down, and those whose status did not change. Jim Harbaugh uses the phrase arrow up when describing players performing well, so I thought I'd take that and arrow down to discuss who I think has positive or negative momentum after each preseason game.
I thought we'd wrap this up by looking at the 49ers special teams players. I won't be discussing all of them because there are so many random guys involved. There will also not be a "No Change" category. Instead, we'll just look at some of the players who had good or bad days on Thursday.
Arrow Up
Perrish Cox
Kassim Osgood
Anthony Dixon
Colton Schmidt
Ricardo Lockette
Arrow Down
Phil Dawson
There were plenty more players, so go ahead and drop in your own special teams thoughts. Dawson gets arrow down strictly because of the miss. He is getting used to the winds of Candlestick Park, so hopefully he is steady this season.
Colton Schmidt handled one punt, and all the kickoff duties, and put together a solid effort. He had a booming 57-yard punt, and he made a big tackle on one of his kick returns.
Perrish Cox was the big standout with a 15-yard punt return and a 33-yard kick return. Cox joined LaMichael James and Chad Hall on punt return duties, and had the best day of the three. James seemed to be the favorite for both kick and punt return duties, but if Cox can continue to take advantage of these preseason opportunities, he very well could secure one of the jobs.
Kassim Osgood and Ricardo Lockette get arrows up for their strong work in coverage. Lockette delivered one of the highlights of the night, when he ran over Trindon Holliday on a punt return. Holliday decided to field a punt down near his own two yard line, with Lockette coming down as the gunner. Bad idea, Trindon.
Osgood gets an arrow up for his strong special teams work, to go with his solid day as a receiver. Osgood has been limited as a receiver since entering the NFL in 2003, but he has gone to the Pro Bowl as a special teamer. If he puts together three more performances like Thursday, he will be well on his way to a roster spot.