The Los Angeles Rams went into the draft without a punter on the roster but in the seventh round, they found their replacement for Riley Dixon – a Division II punter from Wingate University named Ethan Evans.
Evans wasn’t a name many people recognized when it was announced with pick No. 223 in the draft, but he’s trying to make sure everyone knows who he is at the next level. He certainly has the leg strength to make that happen, and he showed off his lower-body power in a recent video.
He posted on Instagram a clip of himself deadlifting 770 pounds … twice. He made it look easy, too.
He also did eight reps of 605 pounds and benched 225 pounds eight times, not struggling at all with that, either.
Last season at Wingate, Evans averaged 45.7 yards per punt and downed 39 of his 77 attempts inside the 20-yard line. Nearly half of his punts (30 of 77) went for 50-plus yards and he had 13 touchbacks with a long of 67 yards.
The Rams feel they found a hidden gem in the seventh round with this 6-foot-4 punter and hopefully he’ll help them improve on special teams this year.
