49ers take a punt with new kicker: meet Eddy Pineiro

The San Francisco 49ers have made a change at kicker. The NFC West team decided to release Jake Moody – a player they had invested a third-round pick in during the 2023 Draft – after he missed two field goals against the Seattle Seahawks.

With Moody’s departure, the kicker spot opened up. The 49ers tried out Eddy Pineiro during practice and later announced they had signed him for the rest of the 2025 season. The Miami-born kicker, of Nicaraguan and Cuban descent, now has the chance to prove himself with one of the NFL’s elite teams.

Who is Eddy Pineiro?

Pineiro’s road to the league was far from straightforward. He went undrafted in 2018 after his college career with the Florida Gators. The Raiders gave him a rookie deal, but an injury landed him on injured reserve. The then-Oakland team traded him to the Chicago Bears in 2019, where he made his debut.

In his first year, Pineiro converted 82.1% of his kicks, but a groin injury cost him his job in Chicago. In 2021 he returned to the NFL with the Jets and made all eight of his field goal attempts. From 2022 to 2024 he became a reliable weapon for the Carolina Panthers, hitting 88.9% of his kicks, including a 56-yard field goal.

Over his career, Pineiro has the fourth-highest accuracy rate in NFL history, converting 88.095% of his field goals. Only Justin Tucker (89.103%), Harrison Butker (88.755%), and Chris Boswell (88.103%) rank above him.

Eddy Pineiro’s Latino roots

Pineiro was born in Miami, Florida, on September 13, 1995, nearly 30 years ago, to a Cuban father and Nicaraguan mother. Kicking was in his blood. His father, Eddy Pineiro Sr., left Cuba in 1980 at the age of nine during the Mariel boatlift and later became a professional soccer player in the United States. After playing for the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the NASL, he met his wife, who had migrated from Nicaragua to escape the Sandinista-Contra conflict.

Eddy is the middle child of three – his older sister is named Gicely and his younger brother is Adam. The Pineiro family grew up in Eureka, between downtown Miami and Homestead, according to a profile by the University of Florida, where Eddy studied before making it to the NFL.

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