The San Francisco 49ers are coming off their worst season since 2018. After a loss in overtime of the Super Bowl last year, the injury bug struck the organization horribly. Ultimately, the Niners were alive in the playoff mix before losing seven of their final eight games. The collapse has led to a revamp of the roster and the team moving on from many of its household names. Despite so many new faces in the organization, there’s still one player fans are begging the franchise to move on from: Jake Moody.
Jake Moody’s Struggles
The 49ers front office made an extremely bold move by taking Moody in the third round of the 2023 draft. At the time, the Niners were desperate to find a franchise kicker, and Moody’s track record at Michigan was the best the draft could offer. Still, taking a kicker before day three of the draft is unprecedented and has completely backfired for San Francisco.
In his rookie season, Moody missed some big kicks, and concerns about him began to emerge. Then, last season, he was among the worst kickers in the entire league, as he missed 10 kicks and put up just a 70.6% field goal percentage. The only players at the position with a field goal conversion rate under 70% were Dustin Hopkins and Brandon Narveson. Not a good company to be in.
49ers Retaining Moody
After an awful season last year, the organization brought in a new special teams coordinator, Brant Boyer, and right after, it became clear that Jake Moody would have to earn his spot on the roster. The team brought in Greg Joseph to compete, but he was cut on Monday. Kyle Shanahan explained his reasoning for deciding to part ways with Joseph.
“I would have loved to keep [Joseph] longer and allowed them to play that out longer,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “But we had 13 guys out of practice today. We’ve got five guys on PUP. It’s just too many people to have that luxury. It’s awesome to have two kickers and have them battle, but they’re not really guys to take reps. We need more people to take reps for us.”
Many fans were not satisfied with the decision after reports came out that Joseph had put up better numbers throughout the training camp practices. While it’s true that Joseph outperformed Moody, he did so by making just one more kick. The gap was super close.
The Kicking Competition is Not Over
Shanahan would go on to discuss the kicking situation, which gave much more clarity to the situation.
“Whether you have one kicker in the building or two, kickers always know they are competing with whoever is out there,” Shanahan said. “So, I don’t see it much different.”
So, Jake Moody has not earned his roster spot. Maybe he’s outlasted Greg Joseph, but Kyle is correct in that there are so many free agent kickers available. The 49ers organization has scouts all over the league and likely feels there will be better options than Joseph available after roster cuts later this summer.
While many fans are panicked about the recent news, the 49ers’ cutting Greg Joseph by no means signals that Jake Moody will be the 49ers’ starting kicker week one. The kicking competition is far from over. No need to panic…yet.
Don’t Worry, Jake Moody Has NOT Won the Kicking Job