Jake Moody’s woes in Cleveland make 49ers’ draft choice look suspect

Jake Moody’s performance on Sunday in the 49ers 19-17 loss wasn’t very “money” of him.

With nine seconds to go in regulation, the rookie kicker had a chance to not only give his team the lead, but also put the miserable offensive performance the Niners had produced on Sunday behind them all in one fell swoop. Unfortunately for San Francisco, Moody missed wide right, securing the first loss of the season.

It would be one thing, albeit still a frustrating one, if this was simply a first-year player missing a high-pressure kick for the first time in his young career, but that’s not quite the situation with Moody. The former Michigan kicker was selected in the third round of this year’s NFL Draft. It was the first time the Niners had drafted a kicker since 2002, and he was the highest selected kicker since 2016. 

Since the rather shocking move happened, the Niners have spent a lot of time defending their choice ahead of this season. Special teams coordinator Brian Schneider hyped Moody up by throwing the Michigan players at the kicker’s draft workout under the bus. Head coach Kyle Shanahan had to deal with some ridicule from friends.

“Most of my friends made fun of me,” Shanahan told ESPN in April. “They were trying to make me feel insecure about it. But we don’t.”

For a time, it looked like the pick was paying off, as Moody was perfect through five games this season. However, during Sunday’s loss, the planets seemed to align in a way that magnified the potential issues with Moody’s selection. Not only were the misses tough, but the 49ers were wrecked with injuries, particularly with skill position players on offense. The third-round pick could have instead been used on additional depth in those areas.

There’s also the fact that this decision was made in lieu of the Niners not bringing back longtime veteran Robbie Gould, whose name was trending on X, formerly known as Twitter, in the wake of the loss. The team could have simply paid a man known for getting the ball through the uprights in these clutch moments, but instead decided to hand that responsibility off to someone born just before the turn of the century.

The bigger questions are by no means Moody’s fault. The only thing the young kicker is responsible for is what he can control, which includes his late misson Sunday. No, these questions fall at the feet of the 49ers’ front office, whose decision to shock everyone back in April came back to haunt them a little bit on this October day.

And, perhaps even worse than this one loss, the miss could reopen all of the insecurities Shanahan’s friends were trying to get him to feel about the selection.