Kicker Kombat: Jake Moody Kontinues to Kontrol his destiny

Welcome to the Saturday edition of Kicker Kombat. We all know you are enjoying reading about how the San Francisco 49ers offense is doing all sorts of things we haven’t seen during a training camp in years, but we also know you cannot process all of it without knowing how the kickers are doing days after the last Kicker Kombat update.

And that’s what we’re here for. Jake Moody has shown he is human. On Thursday, he didn’t kick at all. Maybe a day off, maybe a chance to give Zane Gonzalez a chance to boom a few kicks for his trade value part of the kompetition.

Friday, Moody returned and boy did he once again show why the 49ers burned a third rounder for him. He went 3-4; a 33, 43, and 39 yarder. His one miss? A 63-yarder that was just short. Considering he made a 60-yarder a couple of days ago, and the 49ers reliance on shorter kicks to operate when the offense falls apart in the red zone, we can let this one slide.

While it was going to take some severe nosedives for Moody to lose the job to Gonzalez, at this point, he doesn’t seem to have any of the yips you might see or possibly expect from a rookie. In our last Kicker Kombat I brought up how shaky preseasons can indicate something bad, but there’s really nothing here besides possible inexperience to the NFL game.

At this point, we’ll need to see how he does in preseason action. If we see him missing extra points or chip shots, then maybe we can curb expectations, but if he’s booming kicks in the preseason, it’s safe to say he probably will be having a good rookie season as kicker for the 49ers.

That day is August 13th against the Las Vegas Raiders.