SANTA CLARA — A right quadriceps injury will keep Jake Moody out of the 49ers’ preseason finale tonight at Levi’s Stadium, six days after he kicked a walk-off field goal in his home debut for a 21-20 home win over the Denver Broncos.
Moody, a third-round draft pick, sustained the injury to his kicking leg in practice earlier this week, the latest hiccup in a rocky start to his career.
Moody’s injury turns over the kicking duties, at least for tonight’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers, to Zane Gonzalez, whom the 49ers acquired five months ago via trade from the Carolina Panthers.
It’s unknown how serious Moody’s injury is or how long he’ll need to recover; he is listed as day-to-day, according to a team spokesman. Ironically, Gonzalez missed all of last season with the Panthers after injuring a quadriceps muscle warming up for the Panthers’ preseason finale.
San Francisco 49ers’ Jake Moody during NFL football training camp in Santa Clara, Calif., Thursday, July 27, 2023. (Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
The 49ers’ regular-season opener is Sept. 10 at the Pittsburgh Steelers.
He made a 43-yard field goal Monday in his lone attempt during full-team drills, and he was not present during Wednesday’s final practice of training camp.
Moody was thrilled Saturday night to have made the first walk-off field goal of his life, a 32-yard attempt that snuck inside the right upright as time expired to cap a game-winning drive and fourth-quarter comeback engineered by Trey Lance, who was crushed to learn this week he’d lost the No. 2 quarterback job to Sam Darnold.
Moody missed a point-after attempt earlier in Saturday’s win, pushing it wide right and adding to concerns after his inauspicious NFL debut in the preseason opener, where he missed his two field-goal attempts in the 49ers’ 34-7 loss at Las Vegas.
The San Francisco 49ers celebrate their 21-20 win after San Francisco 49ers kicker Jake Moody (4) kicked the field goal to end the fourth quarter of a NFL preseason game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Saturday, Aug. 19, 2023. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Gonzalez’s first action in a 49ers uniform saw him limited to kickoff duties last Saturday night, and two of his three kickoffs resulted in touchbacks.
Asked Tuesday what he wants to see in the preseason finale to feel better about his kicking situation, coach Kyle Shanahan responded: “It’s usually if they make them. I’ve got no thoughts after that. When they miss them, then you think about it and you evaluate it. You think of why. It’s not always that. Sometimes it’s the snaps, sometimes it’s the rush. But, you look into all of it. I’m pretty confident with what I see in practice every day. I know we’ve had two outings and I wish those two were a little bit better. But, if practice was the same, I think I’d feel a little bit different.”
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