A lot has been made about the losses the Rams suffered on offense and defense this offseason, with Jalen Ramsey, Bobby Wagner, Allen Robinson and Leonard Floyd being the headliners. But Los Angeles has made wholesale changes on special teams.
Matt Gay, Matt Orzech and Riley Dixon all left in free agency and have been replaced by three rookies. Tanner Brown, the Rams’ new kicker, was signed as an undrafted free agent and remains the only kicker on the roster as of now.
He’s obviously done enough to impress his coaches, leading to the Rams releasing fellow rookie Christopher Dunn after minicamp, but there’s still a long way to go, too. New special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn has been impressed by Brown, along with the Rams’ other two specialists.
“He didn’t miss a lot of kicks, I can tell you that,” Blackburn said. “He hit the ball clean, has a really strong leg. Like I said, mentally, that mental makeup and the mesh between the three of them is really good. I feel like we have a lot of confidence going in right now.”
In two years at Oklahoma State, Brown’s longest field goal was 52 yards. He didn’t make anything over 50 yards in 2021, but he was unbelievably accurate in his two seasons. He made 26 of his last 27 field goal attempts, including 22 of 23 last year alone.
Blackburn didn’t hesitate to pick whether he prefers accuracy or power from his kicker.
“Oh, accuracy. A hundred percent. A hundred percent,” he said flatly. “Put points on the board. We have a great offense, right? We have a great defense that we can trust if we pin them deep. If we can make them inside a 50 with a great accuracy, we’ll be good. Obviously, there’s situations where a longer field goal is going to come up, but we’re going to need it to end the half in the game. That’s going to be critical. But I’d take accuracy every time.”
Fortunately, the Rams have one of the most accurate kickers from the college ranks last year, which helped Brown earn recognition as a Lou Groza Award semifinalist, which is given to the best kicker in college.
Gay was always known for his powerful leg, but during his time with the Rams, he was also one of the most accurate kickers in football. The Rams hope Brown can just continue to drill kicks inside of 50 the way Gay did for several years.
