The Commanders are moving on from Jake Moody. Jordan Schultz first reported the release, noting the 26-year-old made 19 of 23 field goals last season and went a perfect 2-for-2 from beyond 50 yards, with a long of 56.
That overall number covers his full 2025 season across two teams, but the Washington chapter of it was actually really good. Moody signed with the Commanders on November 18 after getting cut loose by the Bears' practice squad, and once he took over kicking duties in Washington he went 10-of-11, including 7-for-7 from 30 yards and out. For a guy who'd bounced off two rosters in the same year, that was a legitimately encouraging finish.
So why cut a kicker who just made 91% of his field goals for you? Training camp happened. Moody came into this summer in a straight competition with Drew Stevens, an undrafted rookie out of Iowa, and the battle got ugly fast. Reports out of camp had Moody missing 11 kicks across four practices, including a stretch where he clanked four straight attempts from 44 to 55 yards while Stevens kept stacking near-perfect sessions. A strong 10-of-11 finish to a real NFL season apparently means less than three bad weeks in front of the coaching staff when a rookie is out-kicking you every single day.
It's also not the first time Moody's accuracy has looked like a rollercoaster. San Francisco took him in the third round back in 2023 with big expectations, and he never quite locked down that job either before landing in Chicago and then Washington. The talent flashes — the leg strength on 50-plus attempts is real — but the misses keep showing up at the worst times, and that's exactly the pattern that just cost him a roster spot he'd earned with a strong two-month audition.
The news spread fast once it broke, with outlets like SleeperNFL amplifying Schultz's report within minutes.
Stevens now inherits the Commanders' kicking job outright, taking over for a team that's going to lean on special teams in close NFC East games this fall. Moody, meanwhile, hits the open market again as a former third-rounder with a real NFL track record and a fresh reminder attached to his name: consistency, not leg talent, is what keeps a kicker employed.