SANTA CLARA — There was more rejoicing over the departure of place kicker Jake Moody than there was despair over the loss of tight end George Kittle for the next four games.
Which makes no sense at all.
Locally, it was all Moody, all the time. He was drawing mock cheers at Levi’s Stadium in the preseason for merely converting a kick and had become a lightning rod for criticism that extended beyond rationality. On the other hand, I was watching SportsCenter last night and one of their lead items was on the 49ers, where they delved into Kittle’s trip to injured reserve with a hamstring strain and the concern over quarterback Brock Purdy’s toe and left shoulder issues.
If Moody was mentioned, it was later in the broadcast.
Don’t get me wrong. It was time for Moody to get a reset on his career. Even if he succeeds somewhere else, it’s hard to imagine him ever regaining his footing with the 49ers.
But we’re talking about a kicker as opposed to a tight end bound for the Hall of Fame. Kittle and linebacker Fred Warner are the beating hearts of offense and defense in terms of spirit, and the 49ers way and basically irreplaceable.
If Eddy Piñeiro, officially signed Wednesday, steps in and can convert kicks from the early 50-yard range inward, nobody will be giving Moody a second thought.
There is no replacement for Kittle, even if Luke Farrell and Week 1 hero Jake Tonges did well against Seattle. Place kickers come and go. The greatest player at his position in the history of the franchise (sorry, Brent Jones) is another matter.
“It’s tough not having him out there, but the expectation is we’ve got a lot of work cut out for us but we’ve got the guys to do it,” Farrell said Wednesday. “We’ll welcome him back when he’s back.”
The 49ers are 7-12 when Kittle is out of the lineup. The only non-quarterback on offense who compares is left tackle Trent Williams, with the 49ers 4-12 since 2020 when he can’t play.
“We know we don’t have him for four weeks and that will be a challenge for everybody,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said. “You don’t replace him in the run game and you definitely don’t replace him in the pass game.”
You could make the argument that the drop off from Kittle to Farrell/Tonges is more precipitous than from Purdy to Mac Jones, given the quality of Jones’ work in training camp and the preseason and the quality of the Saints as an opponent. Shanahan labeled Purdy a “long shot” to play against New Orleans.
Kittle’s loss is a body blow that will last nearly a quarter of a season on a team that figures to have more close games than the fan base is used to, even if they regain their status as a playoff contender.
New Orleans is the site of one of Kittle’s greatest plays in 2019, when he broke loose on a 39-yard fourth-down reception on a pass from Jimmy Garoppolo that helped make the difference in a 48-46 win. It was a raging bull catch and run that helped establish Kittle as something more than a promising one-time fifth-round draft pick.
Kittle will miss games against Arizona, Jacksonville and the Los Angeles Rams. Injured reserve made sense in that the Rams game is on a Thursday night. After that, the 49ers can only hope he’s recovered fully and it doesn’t become a season-long issue. It’s hard to see the 49ers being a division contender without him.
Place kicker Jake Moody reacts after making a 32-yard field goal against Seattle — his last one as a 49er. A.P. Photo
That’s considerably more significant than a wayward kicker who cost the 49ers (gasp!) a third-round draft pick and offended draftniks from coast to coast.
Moody didn’t work out, but wasn’t a death knell to the franchise. They got to a Super Bowl with Moody, who had an extra point blocked in a game the 49ers lost in overtime but also hit field goal attempts of 53 and 55 yards on the nation’s biggest stage.
Then the 49ers went 6-11 with Moody, who missed three games with a high ankle sprain making a tackle on a busted kickoff return. That play was the turning point of his 49ers career, because he was never the same. Whether the 49ers did Moody an injustice by bringing him back after just three weeks on an injury that generally takes longer to heal is a question for another time.
His missed 27-yard attempt against Seattle didn’t cost the 49ers the game, in part because he made one later from 32. But making one of two layups is not sufficient in the NFL.
In the end, Moody simply didn’t work out. But he didn’t cost the 49ers the Super Bowl any more than his injury in Year 2 was the club’s downfall. He’s moving on, like Doug Brien did once upon a time after being a 49ers third-round pick in 1994. Moody played in 32 games with the 49ers, Brien 21.
The 49ers’ flagship KNBR-680 Wednesday morning even posed the question of whether Moody was the biggest draft bust in Bay Area history. Hosts Brian Murphy and Marcus Boucher came to their senses when names such as JaMarcus Russell, Trey Lance, Todd Fuller, Chris Washburn and James Wiseman were floated.
In all, 39 players were selected in the third round in 2023 including supplemental picks. Ten players are no longer with the teams that drafted them. Of the last seven picks in the third round, six are no longer with their original teams.
Moody was a third-round pick, and a supplemental one at that, at No. 99 overall. The 49ers had two other picks in that round. Safety Ji’Ayir Brown was selected at No. 87 and he got all of two defensive snaps against Seattle. He’s behind veteran Jason Pinnock and promising rookie fifth-round pick Marques Sigle. If those two hold their positions, Brown could fall even further on the depth chart when Malik Mustapha recovers from ACL surgery.
Two selections after Moody, the 49ers drafted Cameron Latu, a tight end out of Alabama that in theory could have helped fill the Kittle void. Latu had trouble holding onto the ball and then suffered a torn ACL. He was released at last season’s final cutdown and is now on the Philadelphia Eagles’ practice squad.
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Since Latu never lined up alone in the middle of a stadium and attempted a place kick, it was barely noticed as an affront to draft analysts everywhere. So the 49ers stand guilty of wasting two picks that in most years would be fourth-round picks given their supplemental status. It happens.
Moody had worn out his psyche as well as his welcome, but getting rid of him is dwarfed in importance to going four games without Kittle.
That realization should become apparent over the next four games.
