Former Los Angeles Rams kicker Joshua Karty is still searching for a home ahead of Week 2 of the preseason. Karty’s options have been limited since the Rams cut him last season, but Tennessee might be a destination if their kicking situation goes south.
Karty worked out for the Titans earlier this month as the team attempted to bring in competition for veteran kicker Joey Slye. The team’s senior writer Jim Wyatt observed Slye having a rough start to training camp, which came after his up-and-down
2025 campaign. While Karty to Tennessee hasn’t happened just yet, it might be his last best chance to land on an NFL roster.
However, it would be a major downgrade for the Titans if they gave Slye the boot for Karty. If Slye was already supposedly on shaky ground with the team, he’s coming off a far more productive season, converting 80% of his field goals, compared to Karty’s 66.7% before getting benched.
Slye has the more powerful leg, as evidenced by his three field goals of 50+ yards in the preseason opener against the 49ers. That alone was already more converted field goals from that distance than Karty had all of his final season with the Rams, albeit with much fewer attempts. The veteran Titans kicker has been trusted from that distance, even if he doesn’t always make it.
According to NFL.com, Slye tied for the second-most field goal attempts from the 50-59-yard range, behind Brandon Aubrey and Ka’imi Fairburn. His nine conversions from that range were fifth. Karty had nine attempts, period, from that range in his first two seasons.
Slye has converted 79.4% of his field goals and 96.3% of his extra point attempts in the last two seasons, compared to 79.6% and 88.7% for Karty. LA’s former kicker does have a slightly higher field goal conversion percentage than Slye, but much of that production came during his rookie season, when he made over 85% of his kicks.
Karty’s eight total missed kicks in eight games, with half of those blocks, suggests he’s in decline before his career really began. His lack of NFL opportunities after his release from the Rams and Cardinals proves that.
It took nearly a month for the Cardinals to sign him off LA’s practice squad. Karty was signed to the active roster ahead of Week 17, but never saw the field. He initially signed a one-year contract to return to Arizona in April, yet was waived in June. Not getting a workout call for two months indicates that teams don’t think highly of him since the Rams released him.
It’s been quite the fall from grace for the former Rams kicker, who went from being a two-time All-American in college to free agency two years into the NFL. Whether Karty winds up in Tennessee or doesn’t find a team in 2026, he will still be searching for the rookie year production he had to kick off his professional career.
