Two preseason games remain, but the Washington Commanders declared one competition over. The team plans to release veteran kicker Jake Moody and give the job to undrafted rookie Drew Stevens, according to a source who was granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about the decision.
Washington has become a turnstile for kickers in recent years, all while the position has seemed to have greater influence on the outcome of games. Stevens is the 20th kicker to sign with Washington since 2020 and will be the eighth to play in a regular-season game for the franchise in the last two years.
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Shortly after general manager Adam Peters and coach Dan Quinn were hired in 2024, the team signed veteran Brandon McManus to a three-year deal, hoping he would provide some stability at the position. However, he was released months later because of sexual assault allegations (he denied the allegations and was not disciplined by the NFL) and the team has yet to find another long-term solution.
Washington signed Moody off the Bears’ practice squad in November and he played six games, going 10 for 11 on field-goal attempts (his lone miss was from 24 yards, in the team’s season-ending loss to the Eagles). He re-signed with the team on a one-year, $1.5 million contract in March — just weeks before the team signed Stevens as a college free agent.
The move seemed almost inevitable, even after Moody’s successful run with the team late last season; the Commanders did the same with Zane Gonzalez, whose late-season heroics in 2024 earned him another contract the following season, but he was quickly replaced by Matt Gay.
The appeal of Stevens was obvious: The kid has a leg.
At Iowa, he broke or tied school records for most made field goals (76), 50-plus-yard field goals (12) and longest field goal (58 yards). He connected on 80 percent of his attempts overall in college (76 of 95), and missed only two of 126 extra-point attempts.
During the spring, Stevens said his range stretched to about 63 to 65 yards, when not accounting for outside conditions. His long-time kicking trainer, Dan Orner, told The Athletic at the time that he believes Stevens’ range can actually stretch to 65 or 70 yards.
“In high school … I was the classic ‘take the big leg off the soccer team and then have him try kicking,’” Stevens said in May. “I did that my freshman year, and my parents kind of pushed me to do it. … But as soon as I was a sophomore, I had a game-winning kick on varsity, and that atmosphere created a moment and feel you can’t re-create in soccer.”
Last season, 73 NFL games were decided by three points or fewer, tying the league’s all-time single-season record. What’s more, kickers made 12 of 22 field-goal attempts from at least 60 yards, shattering league records.
“What the most important thing is gonna be is who’s making the kicks,” special teams coordinator Larry Izzo said in June. “At the end of the day, that’s the more important thing.”
Moody and Stevens competed for more than three months, splitting field-goal attempts and alternating kickoff reps since the spring. The two were neck and neck through the first week of camp, but then Moody missed five kicks in consecutive practices, giving Stevens a clear lead.
Moody also doinked a 29-yard field-goal attempt that ultimately went in during the team’s preseason win over the Dolphins.
All told, Moody was 36 of 47 in camp practices to go with his bank-shot field goal against the Dolphins. Stevens, meanwhile, was 43 of 48 in practice and hit from 41 yards in the preseason opener.
