The results of the Rams’ midseason kicking competition are in.
Head coach Sean McVay announced that Harrison Mevis will get the nod over Joshua Karty on Sunday, per ESPN’s Sarah Barshop. Mevis was signed this week after Karty converted just 10 of his 15 field goal attempts in the first eight games of the season. Three of his five misses came inside 40 yards, a clear step back from his 2024 rookie season that featured just five misses all year. Karty has also missed three extra points on 26 attempts this season after missing only four on 32 attempts last year.
However, McVay also that Karty “isn’t going anywhere,” indicating that the kicking job may be assigned on a week-to-week basis until one of the two clearly wins the job.
The Rams will be going with a different long snapper in Week 10, as well. Alex Ward has held the job for the last three seasons, but 14-year veteran Jake McQuaide was re-signed by the Rams this week and will play on Sunday. McQuaide was the Rams’ long snapper from 2011 and 2020, a period that included the franchise’s move from St. Louis to Los Angeles.
Los Angeles is clearly trying to experiment with a new kicking battery to figure out their best combination for the rest of the season. Karty has two years remaining on his rookie contract, but it would cost the Rams virtually nothing to move on from him this year. That could give Mevis, who has never kicked in the regular season, a chance to secure the kicking job this year and potentially into the future.
Ward, meanwhile, is in the final year of his UDFA contract and will not be worth a restrict free agent tag in the spring. Like Karty, his contract is not an obstacle to releasing him. However, McQuaide is 37 years old and may be close to retirement, which would force the Rams to find another long snapper next year and potentially put them in a similar position to their current one.
The Thiccer Kicker