The Rams are staring at another special teams reset, and the warning signs are already flashing.
New coordinator Bubba Ventrone has wasted no time trying to head off a repeat of last season’s mess. Xavier Smith is already gone after Ventrone pointed to shaky decisions and uneven play, but the bigger issue sits at kicker, where Harrison Mevis has not held the job down the way the Rams need.
Mevis has hit just five of seven field goal tries and is only three of five from beyond 40 yards. Then came the ugly kickoff in Week 4, when he sent the ball out of bounds and handed the Philadelphia Eagles the ball at the 40 late in the game, right after Los Angeles had closed within three.
That kind of slip is exactly why the Rams should be looking at alternatives now, not later. Jack Bouwmeester is on the practice squad as the team’s international player, but he does not bring the kind of experience needed to push Mevis. Three other names stand out.
Tucker McCann is one possibility. He began as a Tennessee Titans prospect in 2021 before moving to the UFL, where he drilled a 58-yarder for the St.
Louis Battlehawks in 2026. In his lone UFL season, he went 10 of 11 on field goals and made five of six from 40-plus yards before the Battlehawks released him after an injury.
Charlie Smyth is another. The New Orleans Saints have him on their practice squad, and while he connected on only 75 percent of his field goals in 2025, he did not miss an extra point.
He also went seven of 11 from 40-plus yards. The catch is simple: signing him off a practice squad would require putting him on the active roster.
Then there is Joshua Karty, a familiar face. The former Rams kicker did not make the Arizona Cardinals’ roster and was released in June, leaving him available again. He already knows the coaching staff and SoFi Stadium, and he could come back on the practice squad to compete with Mevis for the job.
Karty was steady as a rookie, when he handled field goals while punter Ethan Evans took over kickoff duties. His trouble started in 2024, and Mevis eventually took over midseason. Now the door is open for Karty to try to take the job back.
That is the real value here for Los Angeles: competition without costing a 53-man roster spot. And just as important, it sends the message every kicking room needs to hear - perform or move aside.
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The Bills still have some moving parts beyond those absences, with DJ Moore and Dee Alford listed as questionable while Christian Benford is set to play. For the Rams, it adds another layer to a Week 5 trip that now comes against a Buffalo team trying to regroup while managing a shorter deck than it expected. [Read more 🡒]