The Washington Commanders expected to stretch their kicking competition into the preseason before making any kind of call. Dan Quinn said as much before camp opened. But the battle may already be tilting hard enough that the rest of August might not matter much.
Undrafted rookie Drew Stevens has been on a heater. Veteran Jake Moody, meanwhile, is slipping.
Stevens was clean again on Day 8 and Day 9, drilling every field goal he was asked to try and continuing a camp-long run of sharp, confident kicking. The Iowa product has shown both accuracy and leg strength in front of fans, reporters, coaches and general manager Adam Peters, and right now he looks like he’s doing everything possible to seize the job.
Moody, on the other hand, is fighting the opposite current. He missed two kicks Friday, then followed that up with two more misses Saturday. The troubling part wasn’t just the misses themselves, but where they came from: 33 yards and 47 yards.
Jake Moody was 4-6- missed from 33 and 47 yards. Always wide left. Drew Stevens made all 6 of his attempts.
They kicked from 33,38, 43, 47, 52 and 57 yards. Stevens has been more consistent throughout camp.
- John Keim (@john_keim) August 8, 2026
Some people watching the session believed Moody was getting in his own head, and that’s never a place a kicker wants to be. Stevens has the clear edge now, and Washington would be smart to give him plenty of work in the preseason to see if the consistency holds when the games start counting for real.
If he keeps stacking clean days, the path starts pointing toward Stevens as the Week 1 kicker against the Philadelphia Eagles.
That’s exactly the kind of opening the Commanders need to find some stability at the position. Stevens, a first-year pro, sees the opportunity and is taking it. He knows this could be his best shot to earn a place, and he’s making it count.
Moody isn’t done yet. He’ll keep battling until someone tells him otherwise.
But his current slide stands in sharp contrast to where he was earlier this summer, when he matched Stevens step for step after being plucked from the Chicago Bears practice squad last season. Now he’s back to the inconsistency that has dogged him before.
Stevens can’t afford to relax, either. Kicking jobs can turn fast, and confidence can evaporate just as quickly. Still, right now, everything he’s striking is flying through the uprights.
Moody has lived through NFL adversity before after the 2023 third-round pick didn’t live up to expectations with the San Francisco 49ers. But if he can’t separate himself from an undrafted rookie, it’s fair to wonder what comes next if Washington decides to move on.
At this point, momentum belongs to Stevens. If that keeps up, a competition that looked like it might drag deep into the preseason could be over far sooner than anyone expected.
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