Who Should I Start? Matt Prater or Jake Moody

Friday, January 3, 12:10 PM

Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon said that veteran kicker Matt Prater (knee) "will not go" in the Week 18 regular-season finale on Sunday against the division-rival San Francisco 49ers. Prater suffered a meniscus injury in his knee earlier this year and missed the last three months as a result. The 40-year-old kicker only ended up playing in four games in 2024 before injuring his knee in his fourth year with Arizona and 18th year in the NFL. In the four games he was active, Prater made all six of his field-goal attempts (one from 50-plus yards) and was successful on all 10 of his extra-point tries as well. Prater will be a free agent heading into his age-41 season in 2025. Chad Ryland will close out the year this weekend as Arizona's kicker. He's bounced back from a tough rookie season with the Pats to go 26-for-30 on field goals and 21-for-22 on extra points in his 12 games with the Cardinals.

Wednesday, April 2, 1:20 PM

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said this week that the team plans to bring in a veteran kicker "who's capable of taking that job" to compete with Jake Moody this offseason. The 49ers would love to see Moody win the competition and come out motivated for a strong season in 2025 after struggling through a high-ankle sprain in 2024. The 25-year-old made just 70.6 percent of his 34 field-goal attempts in 14 games (4-for-9 from 50-plus yards) in his second year in the NFL after making 84 percent of his 25 field-goal tries in his rookie year. The former third-round pick in the 2023 NFL draft out of the University of Michigan certainly has the skills to bounce back in 2025 if he's healthy, and if he does, he should be in play as a top-12 fantasy kicker.