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Wide receiver Ronnie Bell spent four seasons with Jake Moody at Michigan before becoming a fellow 49ers draft pick.
Of course, Bell was expecting his longtime teammate to make the 41-yard field goal in the closing seconds last Sunday against the Cleveland Browns.
But when it did not happen, Bell said his belief in Moody remained unchanged.
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And he told 49ers general manager John Lynch as much Thursday while the team’s field-goal unit took the gridiron for a special-teams portion of practice.
“My confidence in Moody is really what made me feel that I could even approach him and bring that conversation about,” Bell told NBC Sports Bay Area about his conversation with Lynch.
It was Lynch who made the decision to not pursue re-signing veteran kicker Robbie Gould in the offseason. Instead, the 49ers invested a third-round pick (No. 99 overall) to select Moody in the 2023 NFL Draft.
“I pretty much told him how confident I was in Moody and how he’s been so stellar since I’ve known him, so smooth since I’ve known him,” Bell said. “It’ll be really exciting to watch him grow and how great he’s about to become from this.”
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After listening to what Bell had to say, Lynch echoed those same sentiments toward Moody.
“He told me they feel the same way,” Bell said of Lynch, “and they have the utmost confidence in Jake. It was encouraging all around.”
The 49ers did not play well last week but could have escaped Cleveland with a victory. Moody’s 41-yard field goal floated wide right, and the 49ers’ record dropped to 5-1 on the season.
Bell said he also expressed his confidence and encouraging words to Moody, he said.
“I just told him every story ever written would suck if there wasn’t any adversity,” Bell said. “It’s going to be dope to see how great he becomes from this.
“The biggest thing is just continue to be yourself, and that’s what he is. That’s what he’s been doing, so I know he’ll be just fine. He’ll be great.”
Moody made his first nine field-goal attempts this season before missing two of three attempts in the 49ers’ 19-17 loss to the Browns. He has connected on all 22 extra-point attempts.
The 49ers return to action on Monday night against the Minnesota Vikings.
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