The Los Angeles Rams had rookies at kicker, punter, and long snapper entering training camp, but they’ve since elected to get more experience at the kicker position. Chase Blackburn, the new special teams coordinator for the Rams, explained why the Rams decided to replace Tanner Brown with Brett Maher.
“Yeah, at the end of the day we had three rookies, love to get a veteran in here,” Blackburn said. “Not only for the ability, he’s been through it, done it, seen it, had those playoff opportunities, had different opportunities, and seen what it’s like to be in big game environments. And so for him to come in here and give us something, especially after we got to see him for a couple days and see how well he was kicking the ball there in Denver was a big deal. And obviously, Tanner missed again in the preseason and that’s the unfortunate part about kicking is it’s about kind of a ‘what have you done for me lately’-type deal. And that’s one of the positions where you only get so many attempts or so many looks at it, especially in the preseason where we move from four games to three games now, right? So you get limited reps and limited looks in actual game activity and it’s about producing when those lights come on.”
Buy Rams TicketsThe expectation was for Brown to be the starting kicker for the Rams this season after signing as an undrafted rookie out of Oklahoma State. But after converting only two of his four field goal attempts in the preseason, Blackburn and the Rams began looking at other options.
Maher was competing for the starting kicker spot on the Denver Broncos before the Broncos acquired Will Lutz in a trade with the New Orleans Saints. The veteran kicker would be released and the Rams didn’t waste much time signing him in hopes he could give them consistency in the kicking game.
With the Dallas Cowboys a season ago, Maher made a career-best 29 of his 32 field-goal attempts (90.6%). The only concern is that Maher missed five of his six extra-point tries in the postseason in 2022 after he made 50 of his 53 extra-point attempts in the regular season.
Experience can be crucial at the kicker spot, and with Brown’s woes in the preseason, Blackburn and the Rams believe Maher was the best choice entering Week 1.
