Remember back when Jake Moody won a competition with Zane Gonzalez? Good times.
Entering 2023, the San Francisco 49ers sought a replacement for longtime veteran kicker Robbie Gould, who wasn't going to be retained after a lengthy Niners tenure and ultimately decided to call it a career not long thereafter.
In the interim, San Francisco struck a deal with the Carolina Panthers for kicker Zane Gonzalez, swapping late-round picks in the 2023 and 2024 NFL Drafts, at least ensuring the specialist role wasn't completely avoided heading deeper into the offseason.
Of course, the 49ers then surprisingly used a third-round pick in the 2023 draft to grab kicker Jake Moody.
And the rest, well... is somewhat tumultuous history.
Gonzalez, who closed out 2024 with the Washington Commanders, could have been a potential Moody replacement and/or competition piece entering the new year, provided the Niners wanted to light a proverbial fire under their drafted specialist this offseason.
That won't be the case, however.
Zane Gonzalez re-signs with Commanders
On the eve of free agency, ESPN's Adam Schefter announced Gonzalez was staying put, remaining in Washington to pick up where he left off late last season:
Commanders have re-signed K Zane Gonzalez.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 6, 2025
Related story: Full list of every pending free agent 49ers have entering 2025
It's anyone's guess whether or not San Francisco would have been interested in reuniting with Gonzalez, had he not re-signed with Washington. After all, Moody won that particular competition a year ago (being a Round 3 pick probably helped).
That said, in his end-of-year press conference, general manager John Lynch admitted there'd be a strong chance someone would be brought in to compete with the struggling Moody this spring.
It just won't be Gonzalez, though.