San Francisco’s special teams unit took an all-hands-on-deck approach after kicker Jake Moody left injured, with fullback Kyle Juszczyk
As a veteran holdout for a dying NFL position, San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk appears to have been working on a place-kicking backup plan.
During the second quarter, 49ers kicker Jake Moody sustained an apparent high-ankle sprain while attempting to tackle Arizona Cardinals return man DeeJay Dallas and was carted off the field. His exit left coach Kyle Shanahan with no available kickers on his gameday roster, and in a pinch, Juszczyk was seen practicing his field goals on the sideline.
Shanahan ultimately opted to send out punter Mitch Wishnowsky to attempt a short 26-yard field goal right before halftime, which the Australian converted to give the 49ers a 23-10 lead into the locker room, and complete the second-half kick-off. Still, considering Juszczyk for the role speaks to the 33-year-old versatility, which has helped produce one of the more unique NFL careers in recent memory.
Juszczyk enters his eighth year with San Francisco as a fullback, surviving a 2023 season in which just 12 teams used a fullback for offensive snaps only 10 played more than 10 percent of offensive snaps. The former fourth-round draft pick has maintained his own viability by doing nearly everything else on a football field, taking handoffs, lining up all over the perimeter and even fielding punts.
“I’ve never been shy to try things,” Juszczyk told ESPN last year. “I’ve always been confident … I really feel like there’s nothing I can’t do out there. I like to give it a shot, and if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t matter…. I’m in year 11, like, why the hell am I catching punt returns in practice?” Juszczyk said. “You have to evolve to be able to survive.”
Juszczyk could hardly have imagined an NFL future as an unranked prospect from Lodi, Ohio, committing to Harvard University as a burly tight end in 2009 with a much more likely white-collar future awaiting him. After dominating the Ivy League ranks, however, Juszczyk employed a unique strategy to jump onto the radars of NFL scouts: despite becoming Harvard’s all-time leader in receptions (125), receiving yards (1,576), and touchdown catches (22) from the tight end position, he entered the Senior Bowl as a fullback to stand out.
He was selected in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft by Baltimore, and by his third season, Juszczyk blossomed into one of the league’s better receiving backs. Juszczyk inked a four-year, $21 million deal with San Francisco, with general manager John Lynch rebranding him as an “offensive weapon” to justify the lucrative deal. The versatile player contributed at least 200 receiving yards in each of his first seven seasons in San Francisco, and while signs of aging may be beginning to show in a less-productive 2023 season, Juszczyk has become a beloved figure in the Niners’ recent run of success.
