The San Francisco 49ers made the not-so-shocking decision to finally waive embattled kicker Jake Moody on Tuesday, and about the only debatable element is why it took so long for head coach Kyle Shanahan to finally make the call.
Of course, the Niners can't go without a placekicker, meaning it wouldn't take too long to find an eventual replacement.
On the surface, it might seem logical for San Francisco to call back veteran journeyman Greg Joseph, who competed with Moody for the job during the offseason and into training camp but ultimately found himself losing out to Moody.
But that's not the direction Shanahan and the 49ers elected to go.
49ers ink Eddy Piñeiro to replace Jake Moody on roster
Within hours of the Moody news breaking, the Niners already had veteran kicker Eddy Piñeiro working out for them, according to reports from ESPN's Adam Schefter.
Later that day, Schefter made the announcement Piñeiro was signing a one-year deal with San Francisco:
49ers officially are signing veteran kicker Eddy Pineiro to their active roster on a one-year deal, per his agents Drew Rosenhaus and Robert Bailey. https://t.co/t1eCSJHdzS
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 9, 2025
Piñeiro, who'll turn 30 years old in a matter of days, spent the last three seasons kicking for the Carolina Panthers where he converted 88.9 percent of his field-goal tries into points while making 80 of his 87 extra-point attempts.
But that's not necessarily the connection between the undrafted specialist out of Florida has with the 49ers' desire to sign him.
Back in 2021, Piñeiro served as fill-in for five games with the New York Jets, under the Niners' two current coordinators, Robert Saleh on defense and Brant Boyer on special teams.
Saleh, head coaching Gang Green at the time, certainly paid note to Piñeiro's 8-of-8 tally on field goals while missing just one of his extra-point attempts.
And it wouldn't be shocking if both Saleh and Boyer vouched for the specialist, given how quickly the turnaround was between parting ways with Moody and inking his replacement.
At this point, Piñeiro is a upgrade by default.