The NFL is very often a tough business. That’s the overall message Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn delivered when he addressed the team releasing kicker Matt Gay ahead of the team’s bye week.
The Commanders moved on from the veteran kicker the day after he missed two kicks in the league’s first-ever regular season matchup in Spain. One of those misses was a 56-yard attempt in a tie game with 15 seconds remaining in regulation.
The Miami Dolphins defeated the Commanders during overtime of that matchup 16-13.
“Matt has been a fantastic teammate here,” Quinn told the media Tuesday. “An all-time good dude, so really bummed that didn’t work out. But we just felt like this was the change that we needed.
“This is what we think, at this time, is the best decision for the team. When they’re hard like this one because of who the person is, it makes it especially difficult. But you still have to make the decisions that you think are best for the whole team.”
In 10 games this season, Gay made a career-low 68.4% of his field goals.
Gay was particularly struggling from long distance. Of his six misses this season, five of them came from 50 yards or farther away.
The 31-year-old kicker was in his first season with Washington. He has also kicked for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Los Angeles Rams and Indianapolis Colts.
In 100 career NFL games, Gay has made 84% of his field goals. He’s also connected on 96.6% of his extra points.
Gay, who was a Pro Bowler with the Rams in 2021, didn’t miss an extra point in Washington.
Commanders Release Struggling Matt Gay
As is often the case with NFL kickers, Gay’s misses often came in situations where a made field goal could have resulted in a different outcome for Washington.
That was the case in Spain. In addition to not connecting at the end of regulation, Gay was no good from 51 yards in the middle of the second quarter against the Dolphins.
In Week 6 versus the Chicago Bears, Gay missed a 50-yarder just before halftime. Washington lost that game by one point.
Furthermore, Gay went 1-for-3 against the Green Bay Packers during Week 2. The Commanders fell in that matchup 27-18.
Gay was well on his way to setting a new career high in misses this season. His six misses in just 19 attempts tied his mark in that category last year when he had 37 attempts.
While Gay owns an 84% success rate on field goals in his career, he hasn’t been above that percentage since 2022. From 2020-22, Gay made 92.5% of his field goals. He spent all three of those seasons with the Rams.
Commanders Add Kicker Jake Moody
To replace Gay, Washington signed Jake Moody off the Bears practice squad Monday.
Moody’s original team, the San Francisco 49ers, waived him after he went 1-for-3 in the 2025 season opener. But the 25-year-old signed with the Bears practice squad, and the team elevated him for two contests in October.
In those two games, Moody went 8-for-9 and made all three of his extra points. Moody connected on four of five attempts in the 25-24 victory against the Commanders.
Seeing that success first hand could be a reason behind Washington poaching Moody off the Bears practice squad.
As a rookie in 2023, Moody led the NFL with 60 extra points made. He owns a 76.1% field goal percentage in 34 NFL games.
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