New 49ers kicker Eddy Piñeiro feels for released Jake Moody

SANTA CLARA Eddy Pi eiro and Jake Moody have never met with Pi eiro walking in the doors of Marie P DeBartolo Way not long after Moody was urged to leave I ve heard great things about him Pi eiro reported in front of his locker on Wednesday after a large media scrum had dissipated It s a hard business and I just feel like a lot of teams don t have a lot of patience You ve got to win now The ers did win their opener but ultimately determined that after Moody doinked a -yard field goal attempt off the upright and had two poor kickoffs they had seen enough of the man they drafted in the third round No overall in the NFL Draft You ve got to make decisions in the best interests of the company and ultimately Kyle Shanahan and I mentioned let s sleep on it after Sunday night and we woke up on Monday and had a conversation and we both felt it was the right direction to go general manager John Lynch announced during his weekly appearance on KNBR- When the ers visit the New Orleans Saints Sunday a m PT FOX Pi eiro will take over place-kicking and kickoff duties Pi eiro who turns on Saturday is the son of a Cuban father and former professional soccer contestant and Nicaraguan mother and grew up in Miami He played in college at Florida and has five years of amenity with the Chicago Bears New York Jets and Carolina Panthers Jake Moody reacts to a missed -yard field goal attempt in a - ers' loss to Cleveland as the Browns celebrate A P Photo Despite a reputation for field goal accuracy -for- percent Pi eiro was out of a job and doing what specialists do during times of unemployment waiting for someone else to fail and then waiting for a phone call To me it s strange but I try not to look at it that way Pi eiro revealed I look at it as an opportunity All kickers know each other We don t have backups There s only one of us So we all pull for each other It came as a minor surprise that the ers didn t call Greg Joseph who had engaged in a short-lived competition with Moody kicking on relatively even terms But the ers had enough injuries to believe they couldn t use two spots on a -man training camp roster on kickers and terminated the competition in Moody s favor on Aug Lynch explained Pi eiro s accuracy as well as a brief association with special teams coordinator Brant Boyer with the Jets in were the determining factors Pi eiro communicated the media he was weighing offers from the ers and Atlanta Falcons who lost - to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers when Younghoe Koo missed a possible game-tying field goal wide right from yards out in the final minute It s easy to see why Pi eiro chose the ers The job was his this instant rather than being signed to Atlanta s practice squad to compete against Koo The Falcons instead signed Parker Romo a former Minnesota kicker to the practice squad while Pi eiro is the unquestioned kicker for the ers Pi eiro has been around long enough to know that being an NFL specialist can be a strange and confusing existence He was signed to play the last five games for the Jets in with Robert Saleh as head coach and Boyer running special teams went -for- with a long of yards and then was not inquired back in when the Jets opted to go with the more powerful leg of Greg Zuerlein The place-kick holder for the Jets was punter Thomas Morstead who holds those same duties for the ers and was watching closely during Pi eiro s group interview Pi eiro signed with the Carolina Panthers where he played from through I didn t even miss a kick with the Jets I played seven games with them I d been perfect Pi eiro reported They cut me and the next year I wound up going percent with the Panthers Strange business The ers are in a sense turning back the clock to Robbie Gould who was deadly accurate inside yards and never missed a postseason kick but lacked a big leg when it came to longer field goals and kickoffs The ers moved on from Gould much the way a baseball group would let go of a medium-velocity strike-thrower in favor of someone who throws miles per hour No one doubts Moody s talent but the pressure of being a third-round draft pick his high ankle sprain in and a predicament of confidence ultimately led to his release Related Articles Championship day hangouts fan-tastic Bay Area sports bars How a Redwood City burger sponsorship spurred the ers to their first Super Bowl title ers McCaffrey Everybody just has to do their job without Purdy Kittle ers bracing for weeks-long Brock Purdy absence Mac Jones in line to start at Saints Jake Moody s ers demise dwarfed in importance by loss of George Kittle Shanahan recalled lobbying his father Mike Shanahan to release Graham Gano with Washington Eventually they did so in favor of Kai Forbath Gano eventually made a Pro Bowl in with Carolina Those are the things you think about Shanahan commented I think Jake s got a chance to have a hell of a career We know how last year ended we know everyone was looking at him and obviously when it gets to that point you can see it affecting him from a mental tournament Then you don t have much choice You ve got to move on and hopefully Eddy can come in here and do the job