SANTA CLARA – The 49ers have a new special teams coach, a new long snapper, but not a new kicker. Not yet, anyway.
Jake Moody’s job security is arguably the No. 1 question on the 49ers Faithful’s collective mind, dating to last October.
Will he be the 49ers’ kicker for a third straight season?
“Well, yeah,” special teams coordinator Brant Boyer said Thursday before adding: “I mean, it all comes down to what happens in the preseason and everything, just like in any other position for sure.”
The 49ers have yet to sign competition for Moody, who missed 9-of-20 field-goal attempts after a Week 5 ankle injury shelved him three games rather than for a longer recovery time.
“The injury issue, where he was fighting injuries going back and forth, I think that had a lot to do with it,” Boyer said. “I think that us bringing in (long snapper Jon) Weeks is going to help. I think that if the kid gets his mind right, which I think he’s doing, he’s doing a hell of a job for us so far. I think he’ll do a heck of a job for us. I really do.”
Back to Weeks. How can Taybor Pepper’s replacement influence a kicker? Well, over Weeks’ 15 years as the Houston Texans’ snapper, Boyer could never fool him and no one in the league ever said a bad word about him, all of which should help make for a “smooth operation” with the 49ers.
Another key factor into Moody’s employment will be how he fares on directional kickoffs. The NFL is revising the kickoff rules for a second straight season, and Boyer estimates that returns will jump from about 30 percent to 70 percent of kickoffs.
The 49ers invested a 2023 third-round pick in Moody, who seemed to wane late in his rookie year. Then came his Oct. 6 high-ankle sprain on an attempted tackle in kickoff coverage, and his sophomore season turned wild, never more so than Nov. 10. That’s when he missed three field-goal attempts, got confronted by teammate Deebo Samuel, and responded by making the winning kick in Tampa Bay.
Boyer, formerly of the New York Jets, called Moody “as talented as a kid gets,” and claimed his special teams counterparts around the league all rated Moody the No. 1 kicker in that 2023 draft.
Kenneth Almendares, an undrafted free agent from Louisiana, is expected to audition at rookie minicamp today and Saturday. Coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch have said they’ll eventually sign a veteran who Moody must beat out to retain his job.
Other veterans have come aboard to fix the special teams, including Weeks, cornerback Siran Neal and linebacker Luke Gifford. Boyer said that reflects the 49ers taking special teams seriously, after it was long thought otherwise in Shahahan’s previous years.
Boyer offered an inspiring testimony on why special teams are vital, as if last season’s mistakes didn’t make that obvious to the 49ers.
“In this league, you’ve got win two out of three phases, whether that’s special teams/offense, special teams/defense or offense/defense. You’ve got to win two out of three,” Boyer said. “I’m here to do the best job I can, create a culture that it shouldn’t be like punishment to play special teams.
“And I think teams around the league, that moniker comes out like, ‘Oh man, I don’t want to play special teams.’ It shouldn’t be like that, you know?” Boyer added. “That’s how I made a living. That’s how a lot of people make a living in this league. And if you can create a culture that the guys know you give a damn about them, they’re going to play for you. And that’s what I’m trying to do.”