00:00So we got the first of what will be several head-to-head kickoffs, if you will.
00:07And, to the credit of both of the kickers, Jake Moody and Drew Stevens went 6-for-6.
00:13Unofficially, they were kicking from distances of 27, 31, 33, and then 37, 43, and 45.
00:23Basically, they'd line up, kick a field goal, move back, kick another field goal six times,
00:29and then the other one would go.
00:30So it was Moody, 6-for-6, Stevens, 6-for-6.
00:34The only one that was close to missing a kick, if we're going to do it that way,
00:38Moody in his round was real tight up against the right upright on one of the kicks.
00:44Seemed like Stevens, for the most part, split the uprights in half.
00:47The question for Stevens, who's got the bigger leg, obviously, massive leg, coming out of college as a rookie,
00:53is going to be accuracy.
00:54This is super nerdy and silly, and I'm already cringing before I say it.
00:58Like, I hate myself for this.
01:00But the ball sounds better when he kicks it.
01:03Now, this is me confirming my priors because I want the big leg guy.
01:06But there is something, too.
01:07I just remember over the years talking to, like, kickers, special teams coaches,
01:11and they talk about that really, like, obvious thump of the football.
01:16It's almost like a bat, right, on contact.
01:18Like, sometimes it sounds different.
01:19It just sounds like it echoes when he kicks the ball.
01:23He's got the huge leg.
01:24But one for one for both he and Moody in terms of showing well, making all six of their kicks.
01:30I think this competition will go all the way through the preseason.
01:34I'll be curious to see now with only three games how you handle that.
01:36Do you give a guy a game?
01:38Do you go every other kick?
01:39You're not really sure when you're going to get kicks.
01:41So, if it's Moody, do you want him to take the 50-pluser because that's what he struggles with?
01:45Whereas, if it's Stevens, maybe you want him to take the kick in the 35-47 range because, you know,
01:51you want to check on his accuracy.
01:53It's a big decision, though.
01:54This is something that could be the determining factor in a ballgame later this year.
01:57Yeah, I kind of feel like Moody has the leg up just because of the fact that we've seen him.
02:03But I would like to see Drew Stevens get the opportunities.
02:06Let me go back on that.
02:07I'm interested you say that.
02:08You think he has the leg up meaning because he was here last year?
02:10Yeah, because I think he has the leg down, if we will, because we know who he is.
02:15Like, his career is that of a guy that has bounced all over the place for a reason.
02:20Yeah, no, maybe it's just semantics.
02:22Like, I think he is the leader in the clubhouse by default in terms of they know what they're getting.
02:27At worst, they cut Drew Stevens and move on, and that's their guy, Jake Moody,
02:30and maybe they bring somebody else in for competition throughout the season or something like that,
02:34if that were to be the case.
02:35Do you think it's an open competition, or do you think Moody needs to be supplanted?
02:40No, probably kind of like that.
02:43Like, I think it's a competition where they probably want Drew Stevens to take the job,
02:47but they just know that at worst we have Jake Moody.
02:49So what I'm hoping, we're using a lot of leg puns, by the way.
02:52Yeah.
02:52I'm hoping it's on equal footing to start the competition.
02:55I want it to be 50-50.
02:58Because when you talk about training camp competitions, there is this scale of them, right,
03:03where Dan Quinn will tell you that they're competing at quarterback out there,
03:08for whatever that means.
03:10Here's how that's going to go.
03:12Jaden Daniels, if he's healthy, should start and play every single snap with the ones for the history of time,
03:17right?
03:17Obviously, there's no quarterback competition.
03:19But coaches don't ever say we're not competing at this spot or there's no competition.
03:25So on that scale, that's a one out of a 100 competition.
03:28You get what I'm saying?
03:28The 100 competition is when there's literally two QBs that are splitting reps.
03:35We've seen this before.
03:36That's Beck and Grossman.
03:37You don't know who the guy is going to be.
03:40Maybe in Minnesota, it's close to that with a Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy or something.
03:45I'm hoping this is one of those 100 competitions where there is no leader.
03:50There is no one who likely gets the job.
03:53Your point is well taken, which is he's a veteran.
03:56He made a bunch of kicks last year.
03:58So you can't just struggle your way through camp and beat him out.
04:02But I think looking at Jake Moody's body of work, I go, this is not a guy I'd want necessarily
04:10to stake my season on.
04:14Hopefully, Stevens is better than this.
04:16Doesn't mean he is, but we haven't seen him be bad yet.
04:19We haven't seen him shank a bunch of kicks in San Francisco yet.
04:22So there's always the hope and the dream that maybe he's different.
04:24But generally, man, rookie kickers, ask Moody, who got drafted high.
04:30Roberto Aguayo got drafted high.
04:33What's Rodrigo Blankenship?
04:34These guys, the best college kickers, even as rookies, most of them struggle.
04:39It does take time for some weird reason.
04:41Yeah, and that's the thing.
04:42I would prefer that they had a different kicker other than Jake Moody as well.
04:46But that could be Drew Stevens.
04:48It could be someone else.
04:49I think Drew Stevens is going to get every opportunity.
04:51And by the way, if there's ever a team I'm going to pick a specialist from, kicker or punter, it's
04:56Iowa because they depend on their special teams.
04:57It's a great point.
04:58More than anybody else in college football.
05:01But, yeah, I'm interested to see.
05:02I like Drew Stevens.
05:03I thought that he was someone that would get an opportunity in the league and was excited to see that
05:08Washington was going to give him a look.
05:10And we'll see if he can beat out Jake Moody.
05:12I think it is something, though, where they're going in with an open mind, understanding that if he struggles, all
05:17right, well, at worst, we have Jake Moody.
05:19And maybe you still don't feel great about that, but they're at least going to give, I think, Drew Stevens
05:23pretty much every opportunity to win this job.
05:25Jake Moody, if you're wondering what isn't to like, he was really good in college and drafted very high.
05:32So what I would point out is just from 50 and beyond, he has not proven to be a reliable
05:40NFL kicker.
05:41And the world I want to live in is a guy with a big leg who allows me to be
05:47in scoring position and basically in range to get points as soon as I get to the 40-yard line.
05:53I think that's the secret sauce in the NFL right now.
05:56Drives start at a better position than they ever have before because of the kickoff rules, because of the touchback
06:03rules.
06:04On average, you know, Washington so many times last year would start at their own, like, 40, 41-yard line.
06:09That was a couple-time-a-game thing on returns.
06:12They almost routinely every single week did that two or three times.
06:16But generally, let's say you're starting around the 35, 36-yard line.
06:21Well, now I'm a first down on a completion on, like, a second and six or something away from crossing
06:27midfield.
06:28I'm now not even a full first down away from points after one first down.
06:33If I can get another six or so yards and it's, you know, now third and four and I'm incomplete
06:39and it's fourth and four from the 41-yard line of the opponent in plus territory,
06:43and I can try the guy out from 58 like a Brandon Aubrey and it's a chip shot, you're talking
06:48about a first down?
06:49Yes.
06:49Basically, a one for three from your quarterback for 15 yards with two runs for seven yards and that 23
06:55-yard drive just got you three points.
06:58That's where I want to be living.
06:59Now, Danny, if he was here, he's at the beach today on vacay, but he cares way less about that
07:04and he cares about whenever I kick it from inside of, like, 46, I need to be made.
07:09That's, like, all he cares about.
07:11That's how I felt 10 years ago.
07:13I just think the league has changed too much, and ideally, you're going to, even the bad kickers are going
07:17to hit on those, like, at a, I don't know, a 90-some percent rate, 85 percent rate, if they're
07:22bad.
07:22I need a guy that can make it from further.
07:24So I look at Moody's track record, Tobes.
07:27He's missed six of 14 field goals from 50-plus in his career.
07:30A lot of those were in 2024.
07:32He's four for his last four over the last two seasons, but it's basically close to 50.
07:37Like, you're not running him out there to boot kicks very.
07:39His longest kick of his career since his rookie season is 56.
07:43I think that tells you a lot.
07:45He's also only attempted two, you know, two with Washington and then two with the previous two teams from 50
07:50and beyond.
07:51You kind of avoid him in that range.
07:53I'd like to get to the 43 and get to call a play differently if I'm Dan Quinn because I
07:58got Drew Stevens ready to come out here and hammer a ball from 59.
08:01Yeah, I mean, it's a huge advantage to be able to have a Brandon Aubrey on your football team where
08:07you're in scoring range when you cross midfield, right?
08:09Like, it changes things where for Washington, if they're not confident, you know, around 50 yards, that's a 20-yard
08:16difference, Grants.
08:17If you feel like just getting across to 50 is now you're suddenly in field goal range or close to
08:21it versus I got to get inside 50 and now I'm approaching the 30-yard line, that's a whole different
08:26way.
08:27So, I agree.
08:28I still want a guy that's automatic inside of 40 yards and everybody wants that guy and you feel like
08:34as soon as he trots out on the field, you're throwing up three points.
08:37We've seen guys throughout their NFL careers be able to do that.
08:40But now that cheat code is having the guy that can nail it from deep.
08:44You want somebody that's able to put the ball through the uprights from just past midfield.
08:50And it adds so much to your offense and in an era now where analytics are playing so much more
08:55into fourth down decisions, having the option of being able to say, all right, three points is a possibility here
09:02versus, yeah, there's like a one in four chance that our guy's going to be able to knock it through
09:06from 55.
09:07I need someone that I can at least factor into the equation more than a 25% chance or something
09:12of that nature.
09:13So, yeah, I think that at worst, Jake Moody's your kicker on week one.
09:17I think they would prefer, though, Drew Stevens win this kicking battle.
09:21Yeah, and if he outkicks him at practice and then has a clean preseason where he doesn't miss a kick,
09:26I just don't see a way where he wouldn't be their kicker.
09:28Correct.
09:29Because of the bigger leg.
09:30But he's got to be more accurate.
09:32I know there was a particular practice in the spring where, like, he missed a couple field goals that were
09:36in shorter.
09:37Well, to the old Danny corollary, like, I don't care how big your leg is, if you can't make the
09:43layups, we're not keeping you around.
09:45That's how this team's going to feel, I would imagine.
09:47They also are a team that goes for a lot of fourth downs in that no man's land.
09:51Certainly did in 24 when they were 26 of 29 with the playoffs.
09:55Jaden Daniels is a cheat code and has been just a completely irreplaceable weapon on fourth and short, fourth and
10:01medium.
10:02And so maybe they view it a little bit differently.
10:04Maybe they more incline themselves like the old school way of thinking of just let's have someone who's accurate in
10:10the mid-range and care a little less about the deeper kicks.
10:13But...
10:13...
10:13...
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