The Los Angeles Rams were quick to hire a new special teams coordinator at the end of the season. After firing Chase Blackburn following a Week 16 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, the Rams promoted Ben Kotwica and brought in Matthew Harper to assist for the rest of the season. Despite some special teams improvement, there were still too many errors over the final six games. When all was said and done, the Rams brought in Bubba Ventrone and Kyle Hoke from the Cleveland Browns.
Getting the special teams right in 2026 is crucial for the Rams. The Rams can’t have another year like this past season in which there were always questions at kicker and special teams cost them three games, including their loss in the NFC Championship. Ever since Sean McVay moved on from John Fassel, the Rams head coach has struggled with hiring a long-term replacement.
Unfortunately, there are serious concerns when it comes to Ventrone and it’s fair to be skeptical that he’s the fix that the Rams are looking for.
Back in Week 10, the Browns took an early 7-0 lead against the New York Jets. On the ensuing kickoff, the Jets returned it 99 yards for a touchdown. After the offense went three and out, the Browns punt return unit gave up a second return touchdown. In less than 40 seconds of gameplay, the Browns went from leading 7-0 to trailing 14-7 because of special teams.
This was a common theme for the Browns throughout the season. Against the San Francisco 49ers, the Browns gave up a 60-yard return and a muffed punt. Both plays put the 49ers in the red zone and resulted in 14 points during a 26-8 loss. That doesn’t even mention a lack of situational awareness on a kickoff that was returned with the ball heading out of bounds. The gaffe put the Browns offense at the 5-yard line instead of the 40.
The Browns led the NFL in punt return yards allowed in 2025 with 522. They had a punt return DVOA of -9.9 which is the second worst since 2018, only trailing the 2020 Washington Football Team. Ventrone has done a poor job this season scheming up coverages. The Browns were consistently out of place in punt coverage as they were late in getting to their spots and had undisciplined lane integrity.
On the other side, they ranked inside the bottom-10 in yards per punt return and were bottom three in yards per kick return allowed.
Ventrone was a promising name in coaching circles three years ago, but that hasn’t been the case over the last two years. He was seen as this special teams guru as a former player and then moving into the coaching ranks. He started coaching special teams in 2015 with the New England Patriots. However, as Ernesto Cova at Dog Pound Daily wrote,
“The Browns hired Ventrone because he was supposed to be a special teams guru. That hasn’t looked like the case in Northeast Ohio, especially last season when the team ranked last in punt return yards allowed (522) and percentage of punts downed within the 20-yard line. They were also 31st in yards per kick return and 25th in yards per punt return.”
Last season, the Browns were tied with the New Orleans Saints as the worst special teams unit in the NFL via DVOA. In 2024, they ranked 30th. Special teams errors plagued the Browns throughout Ventrone’s tenure. During Ventrone’s first season, the Browns ranked 16th and then were bottom three in both seasons under the new kickoff rule. With the Colts, Ventrone led the No. 12, 16, 10, 14, and 26th ranked special teams units. Throughout his career, he has three times more seasons inside the bottom-10 than the top-10.
| Overall STs DVOA | Overall STs PFF Grade | Kicking DVOA | Kick Return DVOA | Punting DVOA | Punt Return DVOA | FG DVOA | |
| 2018 (IND) | 0.9% (12th) | 80.9 (3rd) | -1.5% (22nd) | -1.1% (17th) | 9.1% (3rd) | 0.1% (15th) | -1.9% (22nd) |
| 2019 (IND) | 0.4% (16th) | 66.0 (21st) | -1.3% (23rd) | -2.8% (25th) | 2.4% (14th) | 17% (1st) | -13.3% (31st) |
| 2020 (IND) | 2.0% (10th) | 91.4 (1st) | 2.0% (12th) | 8% (2nd) | -0.7% (18th) | 4.5% (6th) | -3.9% (21st) |
| 2021 (IND) | 0.4% (14th) | 90.9 (4th) | 2.9% (12th) | 3.7% (7th) | 2.3% (13th) | -1.9% (24th) | -5.1 (22nd) |
| 2022 (IND) | -1.9% (26th) | 90.2 (6th) | 2.3% (10th) | 4.1% (7th) | -8.8% (29th) | -3.5% (25th) | -4.3% (25th) |
| 2023 (CLE) | 0.3% (16th) | 86.0 (9th) | -0.8% (20th) | 0.0% (15th) | 0.0% (18th) | -4.2 (24th) | 6.8% (9th) |
| 2024 (CLE) | -4.9% (30th) | 89.9 (4th) | -1.7% (23rd) | -2.1% (20th) | -2.9% (24th) | -0.4% (16th) | -15% (30th) |
| 2025 (CLE) | -8.4% (32nd) | 90.8 (3rd) | -7.8% (29th) | -6.6% (28th) | -21.3% (32nd) | -9.9% (32nd) | 1.0% (13th) |
While Browns kicker Andre Szmyt finished 24-for-27 on the season, in his first start, he was 1-for-2 and also missed an extra point in a 17-16 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. In 2024, Dustin Hopkins made just 66.7 percent of his field goals. The Browns eventually found some stability with Szmyt, but Ventrone has had trouble in the kicking game. As the special teams coordinator for the Indianapolis Colts, they brought in Rodrigo Blankenship who was highly regarded. Blankenship had a strong rookie season, but was eventually cut in year three.
An argument can be made that it’s been a talent issue for the Rams and not completely a coaching issue. The Rams may also provide Ventrone with some organizational stability. At the same time, Joshua Karty was seen as one of the best kickers in the 2024 draft class. The Rams brought in a return specialist in Britain Covey last year during training camp, but opted to stick with Xavier Smith. This has also been a special teams unit that has been anything but stable.
Coming with Ventrone is Kyle Hoke as an assistant. Last year was Hoke’s first season coaching special teams after spending five years on the defensive side of the ball.
This isn’t to be overly skeptical of the Ventrone hire. However, there are several red flags and reasons to be concerned. Ventrone has 11 years of coaching experience on the special teams side of the ball which will hopefully be a good thing. However, this is a hire that McVay hasn’t gotten right and the recent results for Ventrone haven’t been promising. For a unit that needed an extensive search, it’s fair to wonder how much went into the search given that Ventrone was hired three days after the Rams lost to the Seahawks.
The hope here is that Ventrone gets the Rams special teams unit to the level of the Colts from 2018-22. When Ventrone left the Colts for the Browns, he was a highly regarded coach in league circles and was on a trajectory to be a head coach candidate. After Frank Reich was fired, many wanted Ventrone to get the interim head coach role. The Rams should be able to provide more organizational stability and hopefully that benefits Ventrone.
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