The San Francisco 49ers will have to work fast to replace kicker Jake Moody.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Monday in a conference call told reporters that Moody suffered a high ankle sprain during the team’s loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Moody stepped in to make a special teams tackle and got his ankle caught underneath him.
Shanahan said the club is working out four kickers, but didn’t know exactly which four players would be coming in for a tryout.
It won’t be easy to replace Moody, who was 13-of-14 on field goals this season with his only miss coming from beyond 50 yards. He’s also a perfect 12-of-12 on extra points.
San Francisco has gone through similar issues a couple times under Shanahan. In 2019 they signed Chase McLaughlin for three games after kicker Robbie Gould got hurt. In 2020 they had to use K Tristan Vizcaino for one game, and in 2021 they had Joey Slye for three games.
This figures to be a longer stint than any of those though. High ankle sprains don’t generally heal quickly, and given the 49ers’ penchant for coming up short in the red zone, whoever they sign will immediately become one of their most important players as they aim to navigate the early-season rut they’ve been unable to climb out of.
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