Sean McVay says that Joshua Karty has to compete for his job as the Los Angeles Rams kicker this week. McVay told the media on Wednesday that Karty will be competing against Harrison Mevis, who the team signed to the practice squad this week, despite some fans feeling like the problem is not the kicker but the protection and special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn. Still, McVay wants to open up everything, including signing longsnapper Jake McQuaide and starting him this week against the 49ers.
“It’s all geared towards trying to be able to just get some solutions and some kick consistency, really, with our field goal operation,” McVay said prior to Wednesday’s practice. “And so (I) think it’s important to be able to have good competition at some spots that we feel like we can have improved play, to be able to evaluate all 11.”
McVay’s history with sweeping special teams problems under the rug is well documented, at least at Turf Show Times.
McVay inherited special teams coordinator John Fassel, but then fired him at the end of the 2019 season. The Rams hired John Bonamego that year, but then fired him after one season and replaced him with Joe DeCamillis. That project worked for two years until McVay fired DeCamillis and hired Blackburn. In the process, the Rams lost assistant Jeremy Springer, now the special teams coordinator for the New England Patriots.
What was wrong with Bones? Fassel is still a star special teams coordinator credited with being one of the lone bright spots on the Titans staff.
McVay’s penchant for parting with good special teamers continued by cutting kicker Greg Zuerlein in 2020 and then going through three different kickers until he landed on Matt Gay midseason. By then, the Rams had already missed four extra points and four field goals in nine games.
The team then cut Johnny Hekker in 2022 and went through another process there, first using Riley Dixon as the punter and then drafting Ethan Evans in 2023. Gay had two good seasons on the Rams but left in free agency in 2023. L.A. went through two more kickers, Brett Maher and Lucas Havrisik, until drafting Karty in 2024.
If Mevis takes the job from Karty, he will be the Rams’ eighth kicker since 2020. Eight! And that’s not including offseason competitions.
Karty is 10-of-15 on field goals and 23-of-26 on extra points this season. Even if the Rams have had protection issues, that’s way too many missed kicks. Whether it’s this week or in the future, Mevis is destined to get an opportunity at this rate. Will the Rams address kicker seriously in 2026 or continue this carousel of a special teams circus?
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