SANTA CLARA — The 2024 NFL season has been a challenging campaign for the 49ers, and that includes second-year kicker Jake Moody.
Moody has made 23 of his 30 field goal attempts or a 76.7 percent success rate, which is a significant drop from his 84 percent conversion rate in 2023 after completing 21 of 25 of his attempts as a rookie.
Coach Kyle Shanahan still has confidence in his kicker but understands the misses are concerning.
“I still feel the same about him, that I believe he is going to be our guy,” Shanahan said on Thursday. “Everyone has got to perform and do things like that and I think he has had a tough year. I think before his high ankle sprain, I think he was like, missed one, I think he was 12 of 13 before that.”
Moody suffered a high ankle sprain in Week 5 while trying to make a tackle on a kickoff return. The Michigan product missed the next three games before returning in Week 10 when San Francisco traveled south to Tampa where he missed three of his six attempts in the 49ers’ 23-20 win over the Buccaneers.
“I thought he was doing really well and then had a high ankle sprain to his kicking foot,” Shanahan said. “Since he’s come back, he hasn’t been as consistent, obviously. But I think a lot of that probably has to do with that, just common-sense wise.
“Hopefully he can get to, this offseason, heal up and find a stroke again and play at a high level that I think he will, because he’s real talented. I think he’s made of the right stuff just from a mental standpoint and everything and I think he has all the tools to be a great kicker in the this league. He’s still working to find that though.”
Interestingly, all of Moody’s misses have happened on the road — one in Week 3 at Los Angeles vs. the Rams, three in Tampa vs. he Buccaneers, two in a blizzard facing the Buffalo Bills and a seventh in las weekend’s loss to the Miami Dolphins.
Moody admits that the process of coming back from an injury has been unknown territory.
“It was a new experience for me,” Moody said. “I hadn’t experienced anything like that before. Learned a lot from it. Coming back from an injury, making sure that you feel ready to get back on the field, which I did, and you got to pick up where you left off which can be tough from taking time off.
Shanahan, the coaching staff, and Moody’s teammates all believe in their place-kicker who believes he needs to stay the course and remain consistent in his process, both physical and mental.
“Coaches, teammates, they are all great,” Moody said. “They have all the confidence in the world, which helps, because when they are confident in you, that instills more confidence in yourself. Just having them feel confident and being there for me is pretty cool.”
