The Los Angeles Rams surprisingly waived wide receiver Xavier Smith last week, moving on from him as their primary return specialist. They then signed Alex Bachman to the active roster as Smith's replacement. Bachman came into the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 2019, eventually being waived before he could get his feet planted in the NFL.
Years later, after making the most out his opportunities elsewhere, Bachman has his chance to make a difference for a faltering special teams unit. In his debut, he recorded four punt returns for a total of 30 yards, and had four kick returns for 89 yards. Those were also the first kick returns Bachman fielded since the 2021 season.
The bigger story is that he didn't muff any punts and displayed sound judgment
when fielding the ball, something that plagued Smith's time in the role.
Head coach Sean McVay spoke about his new returner Monday, saying that he liked Bachman's command of the fundamentals. There were positives, but McVay would like to see Bachman get more vertical on kick returns.
“The first part is, let's make good decisions on fielding it clean and that was good in terms of the ball security," said McVay. "When we're in these possession return phases, let's make sure we end up with the ball, so that's a positive. I thought there were some good decisions. As it relates to the punt return, I thought there was one that he ends up having a good one and we get flagged and it comes back. So that's a bummer where it's just like, 'Geez, that's a killer.'
The play McVay referenced was Bachman's 23-yard punt return where Jordan Whittington was called for holding, negating the big return.
McVay added that Bachman could stand to get more help from his blockers, too.
"I think there can be some better perimeter play to give him some freedom to be able to get some things going," he added. "That's where I think there can be improvement areas where it's a great team sport. In the kick return phase, I expect us to be able to get a little bit more vertical, but I think a lot of this stuff that he could control, he did a nice job with, and I think we can play better around him.”
Assuming the Rams don't make another change, Bachman will get his second chance to return punts and kicks on Monday night against the Bills.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Sean McVay evaluates Alex Bachman's first game as Rams' returner
