SANTA CLARA — Jake Moody missed one other kick on Saturday.
It needs to be his final miss in a 49ers uniform.
The 49ers kicker pulled a 33-yard extra-point try left of the uprights within the Niners’ preseason finale in opposition to the Chargers on Saturday, cementing a preseason and coaching camp the place the embattled kicker solely invited extra questions on why he remained the group’s prime kicker.
Sure, Moody made a 59-yard area objective to beat the Raiders final Saturday — a kick that, for those who listened to of us with the group, apparently righted all of the wrongs of the previous 12 months and this preseason.
“I think he showed the moxie he has,” particular groups coordinator Brant Boyer stated of that game-winning kick.
Or, to phrase it in a different way, Moody has a “great personality,” which is what you say if you’re attempting to arrange a buddy with somebody who’s butt-ugly. (I’m certain I used to be described that method to my stunning, out-of-my-league now-wife.)
Moxie? Who cares? There’s just one factor that issues with kickers: making kicks. Moody doesn’t do that usually sufficient.
Did Moody have “moxie” when he put a kickoff eight yards out of bounds within the third quarter, practically taking out a cheerleader and giving the Chargers the ball on the 40-yard line?
(The truth that Boyer — who was fuming after the unhealthy kickoff — didn’t go full City Meyer and kick Moody once they handed one another on the sidelines reveals how a lot of a professional he’s.)
The Niners have been afraid of trying like fools by chopping Moody, a third-round choose from 2023. They’d be admitting they made the improper name once they used choose No. 99 on a kicker.
However the Niners’ entrance workplace is simply too late — far too late — in the event that they’re attempting to keep away from being laughed at.
Issues grew to become so ridiculous on Saturday that the vitality within the residence crowd rose anytime Moody lined as much as kick the ball. His makes had been met with raucous, sarcastic cheers.
The individuals have spoken: The Niners made the improper name on the finish of final season and the start of this one. Each mistake Moody makes solely additional highlights that truth.
Compounding the 49ers’ concern of shifting on is the weird perception that Moody will signal with one other group and look good. In spite of everything, he have to be so gifted if the Niners used that draft capital on him, proper?
So as a substitute of discovering a kicker that may, you realize, make kicks, the Niners determined to proceed to undergo by way of Moody’s poor performances, losing useful time to check out different kickers this August, together with Greg Joseph, who was signed this offseason a sham kicking competitors that ended weeks in the past.
What’s so unusual concerning the Niners’ Moody love is that the group has proven the flexibility to confess errors previously. Moody was taken simply forward of Cam Latu, choose No. 101 in 2023. Latu, a decent finish, was so unhealthy for the Niners that they noticed no motive to maintain him round after one coaching camp, placing him on injured reserve with out designation to return after which chopping him in the beginning of the next season.
I assume Latu lacked moxie.
The Niners don’t must reside like this. They aren’t indebted to a kicker.
So let’s title some guys: Matt Prater, Eddy Pineiro, Michael Badgley, Zane Gonzalez, Austin Seibert, and Cade York are all unsigned free brokers. A slew of kickers can be launched between right this moment and Tuesday’s NFL cut-down day, just like the Jets’ Harrison Mevis or the loser of the Panthers’ kicking competitors between Matthew Wright (the Niners’ greatest kicker final season) and rookie Ryan Fitzgerald or the Colts’ between Spencer Shrader and Maddux Trujillo. There are NFL-caliber kickers that spent their previous springs within the UFL, together with Rodrigo Blankenship and Chris Blewitt. Or, how about Joseph?
And but the Niners actively determined that protecting Moody was the easiest way to win video games in 2025 for the final 9 months — on the lookout for any motive to justify protecting him on the roster.
What has Moody carried out to deserve such loyalty?
What has he carried out to repay it?
Moody spent the final week lacking a 53-yard kick in Las Vegas after which barely squeezing in a chip-shot on his subsequent kick. Then he missed from 47 and 53 yards in follow on Thursday, adopted by the should-be-fateful missed additional level and errant kickoff Saturday.
So, no, his profession was not modified by that 59-yard preseason make.
However his 49ers profession ought to finish due to his newest miss.
Moody is, by all accounts, an honest one who does have an NFL-caliber leg. It’s not his fault the Niners errantly determined to make him the fifth kicker taken within the prime 100 picks this century, placing undue strain on him to be not simply good, however nice.
However neglect all that stuff and his so-called moxie. That is skilled soccer — outcomes are all that matter.
This Moody charade ought to have ended so many instances already. If it doesn’t finish within the 56 hours between Sunday at 5 a.m. and Tuesday at 1 p.m. — when rosters have to be trimmed — it is going to be the clearest signal but that the 49ers’ entrance workplace cares extra about their egos than profitable soccer video games in 2025.
Initially Revealed: August 23, 2025 at 8:24 PM PDT
