Washington is making yet another switch at kicker.
The Commanders released Matt Gay on Monday, roughly 24 hours after he missed a pair of field goals — including what would have been the game-winner — in the team’s 16-13 overtime loss to the Miami Dolphins. They are signing Jake Moody off the Chicago Bears’ practice squad to replace Gay, a person familiar with the matter confirmed.
Coach Dan Quinn said he and General Manager Adam Peters decided to move on from Gay on the first day of the team’s bye week because of the veteran’s inconsistency throughout this season, not the fact that he missed a 51-yarder and the go-ahead 56-yarder on Sunday in Madrid.
Gay, 31, made just 13 of his 19 field goal attempts and particularly struggled from beyond 50 yards, from which he had missed more attempts (five) than he had made (four) through 10 games.
“Matt has been a fantastic teammate here and an all-time good dude,” Quinn said. “Really bummed that it didn’t work out, but we just felt, hey, this was the change that we needed.”
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It will now be Moody’s turn.
The 25-year-old has spent the better part of the season in Chicago after being cut by the San Francisco 49ers on Sept. 9. He made 8 of 9 field goal attempts in two appearances with the Bears — including the 38-yard game-winner in their Oct. 13 win over Washington — but has struggled from distance. He has made just 6 of 12 field goals from 50-plus yards in 34 career games.
Moody has a prior relationship with Peters, who was the assistant general manager in San Francisco when the 49ers selected him in the third round of the 2023 draft. His draft position (99th overall) was high for a kicker, and he rewarded the team with a solid rookie season in which he converted 84 percent of his field goals. But his sophomore season was shaky, and two misses in the opener this year prompted his release.
Moody becomes the 10th kicker to sign in Washington with Quinn and Peters at the helm, continuing an absurdly high degree of turnover at one of the sport’s most pressure-packed positions. Some of the previous nine never played in a game, others succumbed to injuries, and some — such as Matthew Wright, who was signed after Gay got hurt — were temporary fill-ins.
Gay was supposed to stop that kicker carousel from spinning. When the Commanders signed him in March, they gave him a fully guaranteed $4.25 million contract. It was the type of hefty deal that, despite being only one year in length, signaled a desire for Gay to be a more permanent solution.
“We wanted this to work out long term with Matt,” Quinn said Monday. “But that was the decision that we felt was best.”
Gay appeared visibly distraught while speaking with reporters after Sunday’s game. He said the snap and hold on the potential game-winner were perfect, the attempt was within his range, and the ball felt good leaving his foot. But “it only counts if it goes through,” he continued, and he instead was left to try to assume blame for the Commanders’ sixth consecutive loss.
“I’m going to come out stronger from this,” Gay said after the game. “Hopefully I’ll have other opportunities to go out there and play.”
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