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49ers' Moody Tweaks Kicking Approach After Frustrating 2024 Season
49ers' Moody tweaks kicking approach after frustrating 2024 season originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Jake Moody is making an adjustment after a frustrating 2024 NFL season.
The 49ers kicker, selected in the third round (No. 99 overall) of the 2023 NFL draft, recently spoke with The Athletic’s Vic Tafur for an exclusive interview about his offseason and how he hopes to bounce back from his 2024 season where he made 24 of 34 field-goal attempts (70.6 percent) while battling through a high ankle sprain sustained midway through the campaign.
Moody told Tafur that he changed his kicking approach this offseason from taking three steps before a kick to two, with Moody’s longtime kicking coach, Brandon Kornblue, explaining to Tafur that the adjustment should allow Moody to trade in some of his power for better accuracy.
“It’s been going great,” Moody told Tafur in a phone interview. “Obviously, when you have been doing something since the sixth grade, it was definitely challenging at the start. I had to keep telling myself to stick with it.”
“Jake and I had talked about doing this in the past, but because he was kicking so well, I didn’t feel like it was smart,” Kornblue said. “But then with the injury and all that, he felt comfortable with the change.”
Moody made 13 of 14 field-goal attempts in Weeks 1-5 to begin the 2024 season, including a six-field-goal game in the 49ers’ Week 1 win over the New York Jets, before missing nine attempts in his nine games from Weeks 10-18 following his three-week absence (Weeks 6-8) due to his ankle injury.
The 25-year-old is the first to admit that his performance was not up to par.
“It’s unacceptable to be kicking the way I was the second half of the year,” Moody said. “I don’t know if I lost any confidence, but stuff always creeps into your head, especially after missing a bunch of kicks.”
“But those kicks are irrelevant now. It’s in the past, and I like to have a one-kick mentality, as in the next kick. Right now, I’ve been kicking the ball really well, so I feel like I’m in a good headspace.”
The 49ers recently signed veteran kicker Greg Joseph to a one-year contract as competition for Moody leading up to the 2025 season, and Moody is eager to learn from the six-year pro.
“He’s been in the league for a little bit — obviously for a reason,” Moody said of Joseph. “I got to meet him (last) week. He’s a good dude and I think the competition is going to bring out the best in both of us, and hopefully we’ll both be on a roster this season.”
Moody, however, hopes he’s the one on the 49ers’ roster this season.
