The San Francisco 49ers’ injury woes have been so bad this season that it has affected their kickers in a strange and spooky way.
Starting kicker Jake Moody injured his ankle while making a tackle during a kickoff return in Week 5 against the Arizona Cardinals. The Niners brought in Matthew Wright to replace him, but Wright promptly got injured while making a tackle during a kickoff return himself.
They have used Anders Carlson, a free agent they signed, as their kicker in their last two games. Wright is on injured reserve with a shoulder injury, but general manager John Lynch told team play-by-play man Greg Papa during an episode of NBC Sports Bay Area’s “49ers Game Plan” that Moody could return for its next game on Nov. 10.
“There’s a chance,” Lynch explained to Papa. “He’s doing really well. It’s kind of a nebulous injury with a high-ankle sprain, we’ve had a lot of those but never with a kicker.
“So, we’ve consulted with soccer clubs, Leeds, we have that relationship. We talked to people over there asking what we can expect [a recovery]. Hopefully, we don’t need [Moody] covering kicks anymore. But we need him to be able to kick, Jake is a huge asset to this team.”
Moody has occasionally missed kicks, but overall, he has been solid ever since he was a rookie last year. In 22 career games, the third-round draft pick from the University of Michigan has made 87.2 percent of his field goal attempts and all but one of his 73 extra point attempts. He led the NFL in 2023 with 60 successful extra point kicks.
