As the 49ers wondered what their future at kicker looked like this offseason, they sought out answers with an exhaustive scouting exploration of this year’s draft class.
While talent is absolutely part of the equation for those prospects, mental unflappability is more consequential.
Special team coordinator Brian Schneider revealed on Wednesday that he evaluated 27 kicking prospects. Before the 49ers decided on Jake Moody, eventually selecting him 99th overall (the highest kicking selection since Roberto Aguayo in the second round of 2016), Schneider held a rigorous workout with Moody at the University of Michigan.
The conditions, as Schneider revealed, worked against the kicker.
Schneider had seen Moody’s pro workout, during which he recalled Moody going 12-of-13, with his only miss from 58 yards.
But he hadn’t seen him in a game-like situation, working with the battery of a long snapper and a holder. Schneider said he likes to “see the operation of it all.”
So the special teams coordinator headed up to Michigan and found just that. The “operation” part might suggest a bit more sophistication than was actually the case. Moody had his holder, but the two long snappers were backups for Michigan, and they looked like it.
They were, as Schneider put it, “not very good.”
Schneider recalled reveling in the mess — largely created by design — while Moody had to slog through the workout.
“Right off the bat, these balls are coming everywhere,” Schneider said. “And he was doing great. The times were good, everything’s good. And so as it got going, the snappers were rotating. The balls are just atrocious coming back and I loved it.
“I was looking at him, how he responded to everything. You could tell he was getting frustrated because then I’d move the snappers and I’d have him kick off sticks and his timing was off. So it was a really frustrating workout from his point of view. I absolutely loved it.”
The moments that impressed Schneider the most came at the end of the workout. He set up what seemed like it would be the final kick of the day, a 55-yarder. The snap was poor, and Moody missed.
But as Schneider observed the Michigan man’s expression, he maintained a “stone-faced, really cool disposition.”
So, Schneider gave him another chance. This time, the scenario was a last-second field goal to beat Ohio State.
“They’re on the sidelines, they all run out,” Schneider recalled. “The worst snap of the day. It bounced twice, way inside. I mean, the holder barely got it down and Moody, just like I’ve seen on the tape, so consistent with his approach, his finishing, trust, smoked it.”
That wasn’t the end of it, either. Moody was nearly perfect on six kickoffs after that.
Schneider tasked him with getting as close to the goal line as possible, outside the numbers, with as much hang time as possible.
“The first one, he put a yard outside the numbers right on the goal line, 4.38 hang time, which is phenomenal,” Schneider said. “And then his second one was two yards outside the hash, right on the goal line, with 4.38 hang time.”
He’d seen enough. Schneider went back to Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch knowing who the 49ers needed to pick.
All his concerns about whether Moody could perform under pressure were answered in person, via a gauntlet of Schneider’s own making.
“Out of everything, that was the final step where I was like, ‘This guy’s the guy.’ After that, I told [Shanahan and Lynch], ‘I don’t care where you take him, this is the guy,’” Schneider said. “I felt that strongly about him. It’s not my job to figure out where we should draft him. I just know I really like the talent. I really love the kid. I love everything about him. To me it was like, I think this is the best [kicker available].”
The way-too-early results are good.
In practice on Wednesday, both Moody and veteran Zane Gonzalez got kicking opportunities.
Gonzalez was good from 33, 38 and 48 yards, but missed from 43. Moody, meanwhile, was good from 33, 38, 43 and 53. His 53-yarder, with the wind at his back, looked like it would have been good from 70.
No one will be able to anoint Moody until he proves himself in the regular season and the playoffs, but the early signs are promising.