Given the personnel turnover the San Francisco 49ers went through during the offseason, there are naturally plenty of battles taking place during training camp to determine depth charts at several key positions on both sides of the football.
But perhaps one of the most intriguing competitions taking place is at kicker, as third-year incumbent starter Jake Moody is fighting to keep veteran journeyman Greg Joseph from stealing his job.
Joseph has been with 11 different teams in one form or another since entering the league in 2018 and has made 90.8 percent of his extra-point attempts and 82.3 percent of his field-goal tries in 75 regular-season appearances. So, we're not talking about a superstar here, but a little healthy competition never hurt anyone.
And that's seemingly exactly what San Francisco had in mind when they signed Joseph, as Moody could certainly use all the extra motivation he can handle after a rough 2024 campaign, which we'll circle back to momentarily.
In the early going, the battle between the two seems to be about even. Although both missed from long range during Friday's practice, each had been close to perfect up until that point. And the rest of the team is paying attention, as even Nick Bosa is keeping an eye on things.
"I actually am paying attention to it. I can't lie," Bosa said earlier this week. "It's kind of exciting."
It's not often that a kicker is taken in the early rounds of the NFL draft, but the Niners took a big risk and selected Moody in the third round in 2020 with the 99th overall pick, making the Michigan alum just the fifth at his position to go in the top three rounds since the turn of the century.
As a rookie, Moody was solid during the regular season, making 60 of 61 extra-point attempts and 21 of 25 field goals. In the postseason, however, he had his share of struggles, missing a field goal in each of the Niners' first two playoff games, both of which were just three-point victories.
To his credit, he made all three of his field goal attempts in Super Bowl 58 against the Kansas City Chiefs, including two from 50-plus yards. His 55-yarder in the second quarter was actually the longest in Super Bowl history before Harrison Butker hit a 57-yarder just a quarter later.
Moody had an extra-point attempt blocked in the fourth quarter following a Jauan Jennings touchdown but drained a 53-yard field goal with just under two minutes remaining to give San Francisco a three-point lead, only to watch Butker tie things up in the final seconds.
He then gave the Niners a three-point advantage in overtime with a 27-yard field goal, but then watched as Patrick Mahomes hit Mecole Hardman with a three-yard touchdown pass to give the Chiefs a 25-22 victory.
All things considered, it was a solid rookie campaign. But Year 2 was an absolute train wreck, as Moody missed 10 field goals, connecting on just 24 of 34 attempts, many of the misses coming after he suffered a high-ankle sprain that forced him to miss several weeks.
Granted, all 10 misses came from 40 yards or longer, but that didn't stop Deebo Samuel from blasting him on the sidelines during a Week 10 matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a game in which Moody missed three field goals.
He redeemed himself by hitting a 44-yarder as time expired to give the 49ers a 23-20 victory, but the inconsistency persisted as the season progressed, which, as mentioned, seems to be the reason Joseph is in camp.
It'll certainly be interesting to see how this battle plays out.