Another short-term Jake Moody replacement option is in place for San Francisco. The 49ers are adding Anders Carlson to their practice squad, Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
Moody is dealing with a high ankle sprain, and his injury prompted a kicking addition last week. Matthew Wright was brought in, and the 28-year-old connected on all three of his field goal attempts and extra points in Week 6. Wright suffered a shoulder injury on Sunday, however, so this move will provide the team with a healthy insurance option.
Carlson was a sixth-round pick of the Packers last season, and he went 27-for-33 on field goal attempts during his rookie campaign. He missed five extra points, however, and Green Bay’s postseason run saw him miss one each of his field goal and extra point kicks. After struggling during the summer (one in which the Packers cycled through several kickers), Carlson was let go. Green Bay has relied on Brayden Narveson so far this year; the undrafted rookie has missed five of his 17 field goal tries.
Carlson has drawn interest since passing through waivers after roster cutdowns. The Auburn product visited the Bills last month amidst Tyler Bass‘ inconsistency. Bass remains in place with Buffalo for the time being, though. Carlson was also among the kickers who auditioned for San Francisco prior to Wright being signed. He did not do enough to land a deal right away, but his performance was clearly well-received.
Should Wright be forced to miss this week’s game (a Super Bowl rematch against the Chiefs), it will be Carlson in place to handle kicking duties. Moody could be an IR candidate based on his recovery timeline, but no move on that front has been made yet. Over at least a short-term period, Carlson could find himself seeing game action with San Francisco.
Wright’s weakness is leg strength, and that’s indirectly how his shoulder got injured: short kickoff, and he ended up making a tackle to possibly prevent (another) kickoff return TD. To be fair, it was a pretty solid tackling effort for a kicker in his first game with a new team.