Jake Moody may well someday be able to use his miserable 2024 season to help make himself into a better NFL kicker, but it's becoming more and more realistic to wonder if that will happen while he's a member of the San Francisco 49ers.
The 49ers have always stood firmly behind Moody, who joined the team as a third-round selection in the 2023 NFL Draft. This was the case as recently as last week when head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters he still believed Moody was going to be the team's kicker of the future after he missed a field goal in a loss to the Miami Dolphins. But then Moody missed two more field goals and an extra point in the 49ers' 40-34 loss to the Detroit Lions on Monday night, further raising questions among fans about whether or not the team should stick with Moody down the line.
The safe bet would be to say they will, or at least that they'll give Moody every opportunity to prove himself throughout the coming offseason and preseason. But Shanahan reminded reporters after the loss to the Lions that the kicking position is being evaluated, as is every other spot on the field.
"We already are (evaluating the kicker position). We're evaluating all positions," Shanahan said.
Moody missed a 51-yard field goal and a 58-yard field goal against the Lions to go with his missed extra point and an onsides kick attempt that went out of bounds. He's now 23-of-32 on the season, with eight of those misses coming after his return from a high ankle sprain that caused him to miss multiple games in the month of October. He'll have one more game to go into the offseason on a high note, but at the moment, there's no question Moody is going through some hard times on the football field.
"Definitely probably one of the lowest times in my career, dating back to when I first started football," Moody told reporters Monday night.
Shanahan made note of Moody's injury problems earlier in the season on Monday night, while also saying he wouldn't be too critical towards Moody for missing the 58-yard field goal. But there's little question he was disappointed in the missed extra point, as well as the fact Moody didn't deliver on either of his field goal attempts when called upon.
"Earlier in the week I was saying some of the things that he's gone through this year, which are facts," Shanahan said. "Just him coming back from that injury and everything. And today wasn't a great day by (any) means. Missing the 51-yard field goal, the 58-yard field goal, that's just a gotta-have-it situation. Not gonna be too hard on him for that far of a kick, but I know he's capable of making that. And it looked like he got the distance. I think he just missed it.
"Obviously that extra point -- I don't know how the snap and the hold were, we'll look at that one when we see the tape -- but gotta make that extra point."
Tight end George Kittle had some positive words for Moody during and after Monday night's game. Kittle encouraged Moody at halftime, then told reporters after the game he still believes in Moody's future despite his current struggles and that the key will be to help Moody regain his confidence.
"I'm a huge fan of Jake," Kittle said. "I'm a huge fan of him in a locker room, off the field. He's made some big kicks for us when we needed him. Tonight was a really tough night for him, and I feel horrible for him. I know his expectations of himself are higher than that. And all I said is, 'Hey man, you got great kicks ahead of you. Just keep going. Just keep believing in yourself.'
It's one of those games that's like, all right, this is gonna go one of two ways. You're gonna let it define you, or you're gonna say, 'No, I'm not gonna let that define me. I'm gonna go back out there, I'm gonna make a ton of kicks.' So, he's got the leg for it, and we just got to get his confidence in himself."
Moody admitted Monday night that there's not much else he can do at this point except what Kittle suggested, which is to keep his confidence and keep doing the best he can with his opportunities. It's a mindset he'll carry into Sunday's season finale against the Arizona Cardinals and beyond, as he'll continue to be a subject of debate in the months ahead regardless of how he finishes the season.
"Confidence, you've just got to keep it high," Moody said. "You've got no other choice as a kicker. You've just got to keep staying confident in yourself. Otherwise, you've got nothing. So you've got to stay confident and keep going from here."