The Rams are releasing kicker Sam Ficken and intend to sign another veteran to kick until Greg Zuerlein is recovered from his groin injury, a source tells Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The kicker auditions will include veterans Cairo Santos and Kai Forbath, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com tweets.
Ficken, 25, took over for an injured Zuerlein at the tail end of the 2017 regular season and called upon to do the same thing this year. Unfortunately, he’s struggled in his two games, making just one of three field goal tries. The Rams are 4-0, but missed field goals could obviously cost them down the line.
Santos has historically been a solid kicker, but he’s dealt with a nagging groin injury for more than a year. Forbath, meanwhile, was released by the Vikings in August losing out to rookie Daniel Carlson. In 2017, Forbath converted 32-of-38 field goal attempts (including six-of-nine from 50+ yards), and his 84.2 accuracy percentage ranked 16th in the NFL.