In 2025, the Los Angeles Rams' championship ambitions came to a screeching halt after repeated special teams failures became too much to overcome. Head coach Sean McVay addressed this by bringing in a special teams staff, led by coordinator Bubba Ventrone, along with long snapper Joe Cardona and linebacker Grant Stuard.
However, the same old issues have come up again, leading to more changes. And as the team is set to start its third kicker of the year in Brandon McManus, the reality that special teams will prematurely end the season is becoming too much for Rams fans to bear. With the heat on the coaching staff to make positive changes, USA Today's Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz named Ventrone as one of 13 NFL coordinators under the most pressure
to turn things around.
Amid yet another special teams meltdown, Sean McVay made explicit that he wouldn't jettison Ventrone, saying last week that he has 'a lot of confidence' in the coordinator and that 'there’s no changes that are gonna be made there.' Given that last December's firing of special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn did little to stop a late-season downturn, staying the course with the staff might be a necessary step for an otherwise volatile unit. After Harrison Mevis was cut and replacement Blake Grupe suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his first game with the team, Los Angeles is looking to Brandon McManus to stem its kicking woes.
Ventrone might not bear responsibility for the injury to Grupe that necessitated a third kicker in as many weeks, but he is culpable for a unit that has converted a league-worst 60% of its field goals. And the Rams' struggles to handle their own kickoff coverage as well as create a spark on their own returns have reflected poorly on Ventrone, with the team ranking 29th in average starting field position and 30th in opponents' average starting field position. There's still plenty of time for repairs, but this underperforming cohort can't afford many more slip-ups on this front.
Yes, it's true: the injury is not on Ventrone, but Grupe only tore his ACL because he was forced to tackle yet another returner who got past the Rams' coverage team. The kicking game is a mess, punts can be inconsistent, kick/punt coverage always seems to have at least one meltdown per game, and there's no clear indication of how Ventrone is going to fix these issues.
Perhaps it's a personnel problem, and Ventrone is doing the best he can. Regardless, the pressure is on, and McVay displayed a willingness to cut ties with a coach if need be last season. We are quickly approaching that point this year, too.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Rams' Bubba Ventrone named among coordinators under most pressure
