49ers' rookie kicker nails Super Bowl-record 55-yard field goal

San Francisco 49ers kicker Jake Moody made Super Bowl history by connecting on a record 55-yard field goal.

The rookie’s second-quarter kick gave his team a 3-0 lead over the reigning champion Kansas City Chiefs.

Moody surpassed former Buffalo Bills kicker Steve Christie, who booted a 54-yarder to tie the Dallas Cowboys, 3-3, in the first quarter of Super Bowl XVII.

The 49ers drafted Moody, 24, in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft out of Michigan. He hit a school-record 59-yard field goal while with the Wolverines.

Moody was previously 3-for-5 on field goal attempts this postseason. He made a 52-yarder against Green Bay in the NFC Divisional Round, and kicks from 43 and 33 against the Detroit Lions in the Conference Championship Game.

During the regular season, Moody converted 21 of 25 of his field goal attempts. His season-long make was 57 yards.

He missed a possible game-winner Week 6 against the Cleveland Browns.

Moody won the Lou Groza Award — given to the top kicker in college football — in 2021. The two-time first-team All-Big Ten selection was also the conference’s top kicker, winning the Bakken–Andersen Award twice in back-to-back yards (‘21 and ‘22).

He owns the Wolverines’ records for points, field goals, and 40-yard FGs.

“...[W]hen you look at the history, the majority of kickers go in the fourth round. We didn’t have a fourth-round pick,” San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan previously said. “The guy was not going to be there in the fifth round.”

Since 2000, only 49 kickers, including Moody, have even been drafted. The last kicker taken in the third round was Roberto Aguayo, who was a 2016 selection for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Before that, the last kicker taken in the third round was Nate Kaeding, who was drafted by the Chargers in 2003. Both Aguayo and Kaeding won the Lou Groza Award as well.