The Los Angeles Rams currently have Tanner Brown on the roster listed as place kicker on the depth chart. That was the case last season as well until the Rams released him in favor of Brett Maher. Maher was the Rams kicker until Oct 24. They went with Lucas Havrisik after Maher but kicked Havrisik to the curb and subsequently brought Maher back for Week 18 and the Wild Card game. And that is just last year’s mess. Remember the Sam Sloman–Kai Forbath–Matt Gay debacle of 2020? Or the Sam Ficken–Cairo Santos kerfuffle of 2018?
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Are The Los Angeles Rams Doomed to Remain on the Kicker Carousel?
But now Tanner Brown is back and everyone is wondering if the Rams front office is setting us up for another infuriating whirl around the kicker carousel.
But the NFL’s latest mock draft offers some relief. Draft Analyst Chad Reuter has the Rams picking Alabama stalwart kicker, Will Reichard in the fifth round with the 155th pick.
Will Reichard on the Crimson Tide
Reichard finished his 5th and final season for the Crimson Tide. He leaves Alabama as the NCAA’s career points leader with 547 thanks to 84 field goals and 295 extra points. His five seasons certainly gave him a leg up, but it points toward his reliability. He hasn’t missed a PAT attempt in 141 tries and only missed two in 297 attempts.
Reichard missed three field goals last season. All three misses were from 40-49 yards. He was a perfect 5 for 5 from beyond 49 yards. He is perfect in his career from between 20-29 yards, 20 for 20. Last year he was also 7 for 7 between 30-39 yards. His field goal percentage was 88 percent last season and he went 4 for 4 in the College Football Playoffs.
Should the Rams Draft A Kicker?
Regardless of who the Rams get, the Rams will have to address this position at some point. They have often shown a reluctance to pay kickers to stick around and have only drafted one in the McVay era, Sloman. Perhaps they feel burned by that pick, but Les Snead did draft Greg Zuerlein in the 6th in 2012, his first year as GM.
Considering the outsized importance of the kicker, especially in close games, one would think this very savvy organization wouldn’t slow-roll its way into finding one. Whether or not it is smart to draft a kicker, at the very least it would show a proactive stance.
