49ers
49ers K Jake Moody battled a high ankle sprain last season, which resulted in him missing 10 field goal attempts. Moody changed to taking just two steps instead of three in his kicking approach and feels things are going well.
“It’s been going great,” Moody said, via Vic Tafur of The Athletic. “Obviously, when you have been doing something since the sixth grade, it was definitely challenging at the start. I had to keep telling myself to stick with it.”
Moody converted 13 of 14 field goals before suffering his injury in Week 5 when trying to make a tackle. He felt he was playing at his best up to that point, and it was difficult to rediscover his rhythm.
“I felt like I was kicking the ball the best I have in my entire life,” Moody said. “And then … it sucks, but that’s how the NFL goes — you try to make a tackle and get a high ankle sprain. After that injury, I lost that rhythm I was in. And once you lose the rhythm, it’s tough to get back into it.”
Moody admits his confidence was shaken after missing several kicks, but he is now in a good place at this stage of the offseason.
“It’s unacceptable to be kicking the way I was the second half of the year,” Moody said. “I don’t know if I lost any confidence, but stuff always creeps into your head, especially after missing a bunch of kicks. But those kicks are irrelevant now. It’s in the past, and I like to have a one-kick mentality, as in the next kick. Right now, I’ve been kicking the ball really well, so I feel like I’m in a good head space.”
Cardinals
Cardinals HC Jonathan Gannon is confident in his young players to step up to fill the void left by CB Sean Murphy-Bunting after losing him for the season.
“For the young guys, there will be some learning on the job,” Gannon said, via the team’s website. “You need reps to learn, I truly believe that. And really, bad reps to really learn. So that’s an ongoing process for all our guys, whether you play 18 years like Calais (Campbell) to a rookie who has never played in the NFL before. I feel really good about that (cornerback) room. I feel really good about the guys that are coming back and feel good about the guys we added.”
Cardinals S Budda Baker said he will help bring the young guys in under him and teach them the importance of communication.
“If we’re on a game day right now I can easily tell our young corners what to do because that’s our job,” Baker said. “They have to understand what they have to do and understand the game plan, but also communicating with us all the time. You’ll never not know what to do because our communication is so important.”
Rams
Regarding Rams second-year WR Jordan Whittington, HC Sean McVay said he’s showing “real comfort” in their offseason program.
“You can see (Jordan Whittington‘s) accumulation of experience has led to a confidence, ability to be able to fill in when needed. (I) thought he had a really good day today, you can see he’s just got a real comfort level in terms of what’s being asked, what’s the intent of some of these plays, what are the route nuances and where do I fit within these concepts, and so I’ve just been really proud of the progress, the maturity,” McVay said via Wyatt Miler of the team’s site.
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