The Los Angeles Rams parted ways with kicker Greg Zuerlein in 2020 to get younger, and perhaps a little cheaper at the position, as the veteran was coming off of his worst season with the team. Little did Sean McVay realize that six years later, the Rams would be trying out 42-year-old Matt Prater (that’s four years older than Zuerlein is today, by the way) and cycling through multiple kickers midseason for the fourth time since Zuerlein’s departure.
The Rams can afford a minimum of $20 million for a reunion
with Aaron Donald after two years away from football, but their frugality on special teams over a fraction of that money bites them every season.
The recently-signed Brandon McManus is L.A.’s 10th different kicker since 2019, including Zuerlein. If you include Ethan Evans, who kicked an extra point on Sunday, that’s another. This chart shows which teams have signed the most kickers since 2019, with the Rams’ soon going up from 9 to 10 when McManus takes the field against the Las Vegas Raiders:
Only the Jets, Titans, and Commanders have had more. But the season isn’t over yet …
Greg Zuerlein left
When the Rams parted with Zuerlein in 2020, he was coming off of a season in which he went 5-of-11 between 40-49 yards, which is really bad. The team let him move on and he signed with the Cowboys to reunite with fired special teams coordinator John Fassel.
It’s not as though Zuerlein is specifically a big loss.
He spent two years with the Cowboys, then 2.5 years with the Jets, and he hasn’t kicked since 2024.
But the Rams replaced Zuerlein by holding a three-way competition between seventh-rounder Sam Sloman, Austin MacGinnis, and Lirim Hajrullahu. There’s a reason that none of these names are notable unless you’re someone who likes obscure Rams trivia.
It’s because L.A. didn’t seek a good kicker. They sought out a cheap kicker.
Sloman won the job. He lasted seven games. The Rams signed Kai Forbath. He suffered an ankle injury after two games. The Rams signed Matt Gay and that was a lucky find in the middle of the season.
But McVay lamented their decision process at the time, just months after he endorsed Sloman:
“Sometimes you don’t realize how good you have it until you don’t anymore, and I think that’s the honest answer,” McVay said about Zuerlein being gone. “I think it’s been a struggle. It’s been something that I know we’re working on and guys are certainly trying to get it figured out.”
Matt Gay era
The Rams first signed Gay to a two-year deal that kept him through 2021, then RFA tender that helped them retain his rights for cheap in 2022. The key word being “cheap”.
Gay made over 92% of his field goal attempts with the Rams and made the Pro Bowl in 2021.
Making the Pro Bowl was his first mistake. Gay signed a four-year, $22 million contract with the Colts in 2023, way out of L.A.’s price range. After all, they need that money for guys like Tutu Atwell and Allen Robinson!
Gay had a few struggles with the Colts and there after, but he’ll be on the field against the Rams as a member of the Raiders this weekend. He’s 32 years old and he’s 14-of-15 on field goal attempts in 2026. He hasn’t missed an extra point.
2023-Present
Needing more volatility and uncertainty at the position, the Rams held a competition between Tanner Brown and Christopher Dunn in 2023. Neither of them were good enough to make the roster.
Instead, L.A. signed Brett Maher at the last minute, a former Cowboys kicker with a strong leg and inconsistent accuracy. Maher was released on October 24 after a bad game against the Steelers.
Did the Rams turn to one of their camp kickers? No. Like in 2020, they actually didn’t like the kickers who they tested all offseason. Instead they brought in Lucas Havrisik, who had been released by the Browns.
Maher hasn’t kicked since 2023. Havrisik had a brief audition with the Packers in 2025.
In 2024, the Rams drafted Joshua Karty in the sixth round. He was released in the middle of 2025 and hasn’t kicked for any team since then.
The Rams replaced him with Harrison Mevis. He only lasted 14 games. He probably won’t kick for anybody again.
There are only two themes at play here:
- The Rams don’t want a kicker who is established because that would make him “expensive”
- The Rams’ former kickers don’t pop up somewhere else and become good
The only exception is Gay, but he was already good. That’s why the Rams didn’t keep him. He was a good free agent.
Blake Grupe didn’t even last 5 minutes as a Rams kicker. Now the team turns to McManus, and he could soon be replaced by Prater.
Hell, at this rate. Should we be surprised if the Rams kicker next season is … Greg Zuerlein?
