Jake Moody’s 49ers’ demise dwarfed in importance by loss of George Kittle

SANTA CLARA There was more rejoicing over the departure of place kicker Jake Moody than there was despair over the loss of tight end George Kittle for the next four games Which makes no sense at all Locally it was all Moody all the time He was drawing mock cheers at Levi s Stadium in the preseason for merely converting a kick and had become a lightning rod for criticism that extended beyond rationality On the other hand I was watching SportsCenter last night and one of their lead items was on the ers where they delved into Kittle s trip to injured reserve with a hamstring strain and the concern over quarterback Brock Purdy s toe and left shoulder issues If Moody was mentioned it was later in the broadcast Don t get me wrong It was time for Moody to get a reset on his career Even if he succeeds somewhere else it s hard to imagine him ever regaining his footing with the ers But we re talking about a kicker as opposed to a tight end bound for the Hall of Fame Kittle and linebacker Fred Warner are the beating hearts of offense and defense in terms of spirit and the ers way and basically irreplaceable If Eddy Pi eiro officially signed Wednesday policies in and can convert kicks from the early -yard range inward nobody will be giving Moody a second thought There is no replacement for Kittle even if Luke Farrell and Week hero Jake Tonges did well against Seattle Place kickers come and go The greatest athlete at his position in the history of the franchise sorry Brent Jones is another matter It s tough not having him out there but the expectation is we ve got a lot of work cut out for us but we ve got the guys to do it Farrell mentioned Wednesday We ll welcome him back when he s back The ers are - when Kittle is out of the lineup The only non-quarterback on offense who compares is left tackle Trent Williams with the ers - since when he can t play We know we don t have him for four weeks and that will be a challenge for everybody ers coach Kyle Shanahan announced You don t replace him in the run challenge and you definitely don t replace him in the pass competition You could make the argument that the drop off from Kittle to Farrell Tonges is more precipitous than from Purdy to Mac Jones given the quality of Jones work in training camp and the preseason and the quality of the Saints as an opponent Shanahan labeled Purdy a long shot to play against New Orleans Kittle s loss is a body blow that will last nearly a quarter of a season on a association that figures to have more close games than the fan base is used to even if they regain their status as a playoff contender New Orleans is the site of one of Kittle s greatest plays in when he broke loose on a -yard fourth-down reception on a pass from Jimmy Garoppolo that helped make the difference in a - win It was a raging bull catch and run that helped establish Kittle as something more than a promising one-time fifth-round draft pick Kittle will miss games against Arizona Jacksonville and the Los Angeles Rams Injured reserve made sense in that the Rams encounter is on a Thursday night After that the ers can only hope he s recovered fully and it doesn t become a season-long issue It s hard to see the ers being a division contender without him Place kicker Jake Moody reacts after making a -yard field goal against Seattle -- his last one as a er A P Photo That s considerably more important than a wayward kicker who cost the ers gasp a third-round draft pick and offended draftniks from coast to coast Moody didn t work out but wasn t a death knell to the franchise They got to a Super Bowl with Moody who had an extra point blocked in a contest the ers lost in overtime but also hit field goal attempts of and yards on the nation s biggest stage Then the ers went - with Moody who missed three games with a high ankle sprain making a tackle on a busted kickoff return That play was the turning point of his ers career because he was never the same Whether the ers did Moody an injustice by bringing him back after just three weeks on an injury that generally takes longer to heal is a question for another time His missed -yard attempt against Seattle didn t cost the ers the tournament in part because he made one later from But making one of two layups is not sufficient in the NFL In the end Moody absolutely didn t work out But he didn t cost the ers the Super Bowl any more than his injury in Year was the club s downfall He s moving on like Doug Brien did once upon a time after being a ers third-round pick in Moody played in games with the ers Brien The ers flagship KNBR- Wednesday morning even posed the question of whether Moody was the biggest draft bust in Bay Area history Hosts Brian Murphy and Marcus Boucher came to their senses when names such as JaMarcus Russell Trey Lance Todd Fuller Chris Washburn and James Wiseman were floated In all players were selected in the third round in including supplemental picks Ten players are no longer with the teams that drafted them Of the last seven picks in the third round six are no longer with their original teams Moody was a third-round pick and a supplemental one at that at No overall The ers had two other picks in that round Safety Ji Ayir Brown was selected at No and he got all of two defensive snaps against Seattle He s behind veteran Jason Pinnock and promising rookie fifth-round pick Marques Sigle If those two hold their positions Brown could fall even further on the depth chart when Malik Mustapha recovers from ACL surgery Two selections after Moody the ers drafted Cameron Latu a tight end out of Alabama that in theory could have helped fill the Kittle void Latu had trouble holding onto the ball and then suffered a torn ACL He was disclosed at last season s final cutdown and is now on the Philadelphia Eagles practice squad Related Articles ers kicking it across the pond as well as in the NFL ers Super Bowl history Started with a bang now mired in a decades long drought Kurtenbach You thought the ers chaos was limited to last season Think again ers Brock Purdy long shot to play in Sunday s competition at Saints ers of the st century The best Niners of the last years Since Latu never lined up alone in the middle of a stadium and attempted a place kick it was barely noticed as an affront to draft analysts everywhere So the ers stand guilty of wasting two picks that in the greater part years would be fourth-round picks given their supplemental status It happens Moody had worn out his psyche as well as his welcome but getting rid of him is dwarfed in importance to going four games without Kittle That realization should become apparent over the next four games