This is heartwarming.
Jake Moody, who kicked himself out of a job with the 49ers three years after they spent a third-round pick on him, has signed with the Chicago Bears’ practice squad, according to Jordan Schultz.
Moody is coming off a miserable offseason in which he won a training-camp kicker competition he actually lost — Greg Joseph made 22 of 24 field goal attempts while Moody made 21 of 24. The 49ers kept him anyway. Then, Moody missed two kicks, including an extra point, during the preseason, and the 49ers kept him anyway. Then, he missed two kicks in Week 1, including a 27-yarder, and the 49ers waived him the next day.
In hindsight, the 49ers probably should have waived Moody after he missed an extra point in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl. He only got worse after that moment. The pressure of living up to his draft status as a third-round pick, plus replacing Robbie Gould, a veteran who never missed a kick in the playoffs, on a team that has Super Bowl aspirations, all was too much for Moody, who seemed to lose his confidence completely.
You can see what the Bears are thinking. Moody has a strong leg — that’s why he was drafted so highly. He has the kind of leg that can boom the ball through the swirling winds of the Midwest. He proved that in college when he played at Michigan.
Moody’s issues are mental, not physical. He essentially has the yips. But now, he’s under zero pressure. The Bears didn’t spend a third-round pick on him — they signed him off the scrap heap. Bears fans aren’t upset that their front office took a kicker ahead of Puka Nacua. That was the 49ers’ mistake. To Chicago, Moody is just a second-string kicker with potential.
This doesn’t mean that Moody will succeed on the Bears. It’s possible he simply is inaccurate. But he finally will have the chance to show the world the talent he truly has, because he’ll be free of the expectations the 49ers placed on him.
Everyone deserves a second chance. All praise to the Bears for taking a chance on Moody and giving him the second chance he deserves.
Now, we’ll see what he does with it. His future depends on him now.
