After three frustrating seasons, wide receiver Skyy Moore proved unable to stick with the Kansas City Chiefs into his fourth and final contractual season as the team traded him to the San Francisco 49ers just before final roster cuts in August.
Given how the 49ers were contending with a litany of wide receiver injuries from training camp until now, San Francisco as a landing spot for Moore made some sense.
A few weeks later, however, the 49ers are beginning to experience some of the inconsistencies that plagued Moore during his tenure in Kansas City.
Skyy Moore is making life more difficult for the 49ers than it should be.
Overall, the former second-round pick has struggled with drops, rounded cuts on his routes, and occasional muffs on punt returns in years past. San Francisco was likely hoping that a change of scenery was going to help Moore iron out some of those kinks, but on Sunday, some of those same issues resurfaced.
In the Niners' Week 3 game against the Arizona Cardinals, Moore called for a fair catch on a punt late in a close game. It not only made little sense for him to call for a fair catch, but the decision by Moore to even field it in that situation was worse. The fair catch placed the 49ers at their own six-yard line with only 3:35 remaining in regulation.
"When you have a fair catch at the 6, that's usually not where we want it," said 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan after the game.
From that starting field position, Mac Jones saw his pass fall incomplete on first down. Then on second down, the 49ers committed a holding penalty in the end zone. That resulted in a safety and broke a tie. Most importantly, it gave the Arizona Cardinals a 15-13 lead over the 49ers with just over three minutes to play.
San Francisco was eventually able to march down the field late after getting the ball back. A screen pass to Christian McCaffrey set the 49ers up for a game-winning field goal attempt. San Francisco would bury it to win by one and emerge victorious in a 16-15 division battle involving two 2-0 teams.
Despite that win, though, Moore has failed to show any improvement in key situations. We have seen how cutthroat Kyle Shanahan can be as head coach when divvying up roles and starting spots. With Brandon Aiyuk returning soon from injury and Demarcus Robinson coming back from suspension, the 49ers might find it necessary to part ways with Moore after such a head-scratching gaffe.