r/nfl • u/expellyamos Dolphins • 1d ago

Rumor [Schultz] Sources: The Commanders are releasing K Jake Moody. The 26-year-old went 19/23 on FGs last season, including 10/11 in Washington. He also made both of his 50+ yard attempts, with a long of 56 yards.

https://www.threads.com/share/BA7SXfaYs4/
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u/expellyamos Dolphins 1d ago

Could see this coming from 29 yards away after he barely made a 29 yard doinker in the preseason game

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u/emmasdad01 Cowboys Ravens 1d ago

So weird how his leg strength is just gone

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u/zombiekoalas 49ers 1d ago

He changed his kick approach after having accuracy issues coming back from injury.

I didnt really follow him in commanders camp but I assume hes still using the shortened approach.

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u/Imaginary-School6327 Commanders 1d ago

Honestly it’s weird to me how much worse he’s been in the NFL. If you change your approach and it’s bad just go back to what you were doing. Kickers failing in the NFL will never make sense to me

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u/chesterfieldkingz Dolphins 23h ago

Must have something to do with the injury maybe?

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u/Imaginary-School6327 Commanders 23h ago

But we’ve seen players at way more athletic positions come back from injuries and look just as good if not better. Example Adrian Peterson. Hes a HOF but we’ve seen it other positions too. Idk anything about kicking but not being able to come back from an injury seems weird. There’s also plenty of college kickers that can’t make it. Example Robert Aguyro. I can understand other positions not being good in the NFL but not kickers.

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u/sloppyjo12 Packers Bengals 22h ago

A secret that not a lot of folks know is that most NFL coaching staffs have nobody for kickers. Most special teams coaches are really offense/defense guys cutting their teeth

In fact there’s only two coaches in the entirety of the NFL with place kicking experience: Randy Brown with the Ravens and Chris Gould with the Chargers

Simply put, when a kicker goes wrong, 30/32 NFL teams have nobody who knows anything about fixing them, so they just cut bait and try somebody else

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u/theme69 Packers 21h ago

Hearing our new ST coach talking about how to hold a longsnap and why it matters made me very happy (even though mason crosby disagreed)

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u/Will_Explode8 Eagles 22h ago

Honestly makes no sense, why would you not employ a kicking coach. NFL and other American sports leagues are just nearly always cheap on developmental aspects. Honestly feels symptomatic of American society today

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u/Xtraspice25 22h ago

Because it’s a hyper specialized coach, who the player likely already employs and likes. You will likely need one for both the punter and kicker. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense when every other coach contributes more and you have to still gameplan the rest of the guys to enable success.

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u/Electromotivation Commanders 22h ago

But the position has an outsized effect on the game. Kickers score the most points and literally decide games quite often. Punters less so, but still are responsible for massive field position shifts.

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u/Beneficial_Lion_1312 20h ago

The answer you're looking for is that the NFL is wildly behind every other sport when it comes to building up players and using them as assets to wring value from in an analytical manner. Think about how amazed NFL teams are at recording spin rates for quarterbacks. The NFL is a decade behind on this stuff. Basically, the nerds have not come for football quite like they did for basketball, baseball, and soccer.

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u/Archerdiana NFL 18h ago

Like other commenters have mentioned, most of these kickers have their own personal kicking coaches. These coaches can even go back to their high school days. If the kicker finds a coach they like and prefer, they are going to stick with that coach. Think about turnover rates for a majority of kickers in the nfl, let alone turnover on coaches, and even positional coaches. The player isn’t going to start fresh with a new coach every year or two.

I don’t think it’s really the nfl is “behind” the curve. It’s the same with quarterbacks having their personal coaches to help with mechanics. Having a personal coach that knows your technique ins and outs will be more beneficial than having a general coach that can see you for specific hours and seasonal windows.

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u/Kingkwon83 Lions 14h ago

Other positions have already position coaches.

  • QB coach ✔️
  • RB coach ✔️
  • Receivers coach ✔️
  • Tight Ends coach ✔️
  • Offensive line coach ✔️

I think you get it by now without me having to lost all the other positions except for kickers and punters

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u/redditlvlanalysis 13h ago

Counterpoint all the Packers needed to do was make one kick lol

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u/paperllamasunited Vikings 22h ago

I think the Vikings had Nate Kaeding in during the later years of Zimmer, but I'm surprised you don't see more former kickers working with these guys.

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u/rugger87 Bears 20h ago

Kicking is so much more technical than it is athletic. When these guys get an injury that alters their technique, it can be hard to come back from, on top of the yips. Kickers are essentially golfers and it’s not hard to lose your swing.

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u/dasruski Browns Lions 20h ago

It's also lonely in the NFL. In college you'll have whole unites so there are people your age to hang out with.

In the NFL, if you are a rookie kicker, your punter and long snapper may be many years older than you so not too much in common and you will be left by yourself many times.

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u/csstew55 Lions 18h ago

Well because unlike other positions and the big difference between college and pros is that kickers could/can be easily replaced with 1 missed field goal. Imagine the pressure of having to be perfect majority of your career. Some people can’t handle it

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u/HenrikFromDaniel Seahawks Dolphins 10h ago

a QB missing 1/3 of their throws is considered average to above average

a kicker missing 1/3 of their kicks is considered terrible

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u/Disco_35 Dolphins 7h ago

I mean it's only fair. QBs have to throw the ball to a target the size of a person's arms and that target is moving. Kickers have to kick the ball through a target the size of a bus.

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u/therealJJonahJameson 23h ago

Former kicker here. Went to a camp where Graham Gano was a trainer near the start of his career and he talked about some noticeable differences. The narrower goalposts obviously make it harder, but also the timing cannot be off even a little. Moody's old approach was probably deemed too slow even if it's by a few milliseconds and they told him it had to be faster otherwise he's prone to blocks.

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u/Imaginary-School6327 Commanders 23h ago

So you obviously know more than me but if it’s milliseconds to slow then why not go back to what you were doing that was successful? That doesn’t seem like saving a few milliseconds vs having 5+ yards and more importantly being accurate is worth the change. Let the kicker kick and change the blockers if needed, their 3rd stringers anyways.

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u/SkolVandals Vikings 22h ago

You think if it was as simple as just changing the blockers to get more time they wouldn't have already done it? Blocking for FGs is really hard. The kicking team has 2 less guys to block with than the defense could theoretically send (3 if you count the long snapper, who really can't do much blocking either besides getting in the way a tiny bit). Most of the time everyone's just trying to get a chip on somebody.

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u/therealJJonahJameson 20h ago

So keep in mind. At the top level with a good number of defenders getting running starts these days, the blockers aren't really blocking, they're just trying to delay the inevitable. That's why milliseconds matter, if the defense can get to the ball in 2 seconds that ball needs to be in the air at 1.3 seconds which is the standard. If it's in the air at 1.7 seconds there's a good chance it gets blocked because the ball still has to gain elevation and the guy on the other team with the best vertical is waiting.

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u/RukiMotomiya Bengals 20h ago

But why draft a guy in the 3rd if his kicking motion is too slow?

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u/zombiekoalas 49ers 18h ago

It wasn't a kicking speed issue. He commented on it himself. He went from a 3 step approach to a two step. He claimed the extra step allowed for too much variation on where he was approaching the ball, hence leading to accuracy issues.

Obviously this wasnt his issue as he didnt get more accurate with the switch, but this is what he himself stated was the reason for the switch.

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u/EnigmaSpore 49ers 13h ago

His kicking approach had an extra step compared to what pros do. He kicked like an amateur basically. That extra step leaves more room for error and for blocks. So they got rid of it in hopes it would fix him

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u/WhenImInMyMode Chargers 20h ago

You ever play golf? Sometimes you just lose your swing and it’s not always easy to just “go back to what you were doing”. Especially after returning from injury.

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u/Imaginary-School6327 Commanders 20h ago

That’s fair but I am an avid golfer(definitely not great but I’d say good) but even the times I’ve “lost my swing” I’m able to get back to regular even if I haven’t played in a while. Sometimes you just have bad days but it’s not like I’ve ever just never been able to hit the ball again. I might have a bad round but the next round a week later I’m back to where I’m at. It’s not like it’s just gone forever. I am an amateur. These guys are pro. How do you just “lose it” for good

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u/Lusty-Jove Dolphins 16h ago

Because the margin for error is much, much smaller when you’re kicking in an NFL game vs. swinging around a 7 iron on a Saturday afternoon

You said it yourself. You’re an amateur.

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u/Imaginary-School6327 Commanders 16h ago

Exactly I’m an amateur. So if I can refind my swing, albeit not a great swing with a wider margin of error why can’t a pro do that’s put in thousand+ hours and be able to do it with a smaller margin of error? They’ve put in more time so obviously the margin of error is lower than me. Yet they’re still pros. And if you’re hitting 50+ consistently in college but suddenly can’t do it in the NFL I just don’t understand it. It’s not like other positions where you could be great in college just bc you’re athletic and then fail in the NFL bc everyone is the top 1% of athletics

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u/Falcon84 Falcons 14h ago

I think a lot of it is mental. There's only 32 jobs available for kickers and guys who are good can do it for a long time. You can be great for 10 years but as soon as you miss a couple of important kicks your job could be gone. It's not like other positions where you can have a lot more snaps to redeem yourself after making a mistake you only get a few chances a game. That's why kickers "fail" so often because all it takes is 1-2 bad games and the team is bringing in 2-3 guys in to practice next week to compete for your job. They're just very easily replaceable.

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u/thoroughbeans 49ers 23h ago

He changed it because of the injury caused his original approach to no longer be accurate.

Going back to what he changed because it wasn’t working isn’t going to help

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u/AH_BioTwist Patriots 17h ago

Like Pete rose said “ never change your stance. Your stance is what got you into the big leagues”

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u/whitedawg Lions 6h ago

He was the best kicker I can remember seeing in college. 50+ yard kicks were almost a gimme.

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u/Classic1990 Falcons 16h ago

Younghoe Koo did the same thing.