The tail end of the third round delivered the draft's first selection of a kicker.
San Francisco chose Michigan's Jake Moody with the 99th pick of the 2023 NFL Draft on Friday night.
Moody arrives to the Bay Area as the 49ers' replacement for veteran boot Robbie Gould, who left San Francisco after six seasons spent with the 49ers. Gould spoke openly in April about his desire to play closer to his family in Chicago, while also prioritizing joining a contender in the twilight of his career, leaving San Francisco with a clear need at the position for the first time in this decade.
Moody earned the Big Ten's award for the conference's top kicker in both 2021 and 2022, converting 29 of 35 field-goal attempts and posting a perfect 60-for-60 mark on extra points in his final season in Ann Arbor.
The 2021 consensus All-American earned a consensus first-team All-Big Ten selection in 2022, finishing as a finalist for the Lou Groza Award and leaving Michigan as owner of the program's single-season record for most field goals made and the Wolverines' all-time leading scorer (355 points). He capped his career at Michigan in style, nailing a career-long 59-yard field goal in the Wolverines' Fiesta Bowl loss to TCU.
Moody's selection makes it two straight drafts in which a team chose a kicker one round higher than the previous draft. In 2021, the Bengals chose Florida kicker Evan McPherson in the fifth round, and the division-rival Browns selected LSU kicker Cade York in the fourth round of the 2022 draft. With his third-round selection, Moody is the first kicker to be picked in the 2023 draft; if he ends up as the only kicker picked, it will be three straight drafts in which just one player was chosen at the position.
The kicker's pick was sandwiched in between the 49ers' third-round selections of Penn State safety Ji'Ayir Brown at No. 87 and Alabama tight end Cameron Latu at No. 101.
