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.

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.

The Spurs’ new arena deal cleared its latest hurdle Monday, when the San Antonio City Council denied a motion to reopen the funding to a public vote.

The team will build a $1.3 billion downtown arena, which will be paid for in part by $489 million in public funding through municipal bonds. That plan was approved by the city council when county voters approved a $311 million contribution through tourism taxes last November, with the Spurs committing to fund the final $500 million and any cost overruns.

But San Antonio mayor Gina Ortiz Jones (D) campaigned for a new vote on the upcoming November ballot to allow San Antonio residents to weigh in on the $489 million package that was only approved by the council. However, the motion was denied Monday, allowing the arena project to continue as planned.

The overall municipal bond issuance that includes the funding for the Spurs’ arena still needs to be voted on by the general public, according to the term sheet for the arena deal, but the structure of that vote is not expected to be determined until September.

Spurs CEO RC Buford spoke to the city council Monday during public comments before voting, then issued a statement after the Spurs won the vote.

“Today’s decision allows San Antonio to move forward on a path that was established through years of work, public discussion, City and County action and last year’s vote,” the statement read. “We can now turn our full attention to delivering on that shared vision and the transformational opportunity ahead for our city. We are grateful to the community, business and civic leaders, Spurs fans and residents who have taken the time to learn the facts and make their voices heard. There is still a great deal of work ahead, and we are ready for it. We remain committed to working alongside our public and community partners to deliver a downtown arena and district that strengthens San Antonio for generations to come.”

The Spurs play in one of the NBA’s oldest arenas, Frost Bank Center, which is located in a quiet part of East San Antonio that is surrounded by a golf course, a manufacturing area and a residential neighborhood. The hopes for the area surrounding the current arena to evolve into a culturally vibrant entertainment zone never materialized. Last year, the Spurs campaigned for public funding to support developing a new arena downtown, near the Alamodome, in the middle of the city’s main commercial and tourism zone.

The $1.3 billion arena is part of a larger Project Marvel downtown revitalization that will modernize the Alamodome, expand the nearby convention center and develop more hotels. It is San Antonio’s attempt to build a true sports and entertainment district in the middle of the city, to capitalize on newer high-end hotels opening in the area and the increased population growth over the past several years. Previous projected timelines have aimed for arena construction to break ground in 2029, with the Spurs playing games there in time for the start of the 2032-33 season.

Completing this arena is widely viewed as a necessity to keep the Spurs in San Antonio, as their presence in Austin has increased in recent years. The Spurs play the first two games after February’s All-Star break in Austin every year, but they have added a third against Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets on Austin’s Formula 1 race weekend on Oct. 23 in an attempt to strengthen their presence in front of the Austin fanbase and both regional and global business partner targets.

The team has maintained that its aim is to build a superregional fanbase and become a larger-market team, because Austin and San Antonio combined would be the 10th-largest market in the NBA. The emergence of Victor Wembanyama has dramatically increased the Spurs’ profile nationally and internationally, making this the ideal time for the franchise to lock in a new arena.