The Los Angeles Rams were dealt an uppercut last Sunday. They weren’t expecting kicker Brett Maher to leave seven points on the board in the team’s showdown against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 7. Instead of waiting, the team took swift action and immediately replaced Maher to create one of the biggest early-week storylines in the league heading into Week 8.
Darrell Henderson and Royce Freeman were the two questions at this point last week. This week, Rams new kicker Lucas Havrisik serves as the biggest question mark. Sure, there are other important parts of the team that can swing the game, but if the team can’t get field goals, they won’t be able to win against the Dallas Cowboys. Here’s a look at the new kicker ahead of his first action with the Rams.
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Lucas Havrisik’s College Career Leaves Room for Improvement with the Rams
In college, the kicker played for the Arizona Wildcats for five seasons. In those years, he showed a nearly automatic accuracy at extra points. In his time in college, he made 93.6 percent of the attempts. But this statistic reflects extra points attempts from the two-yard line. The NFL kicks from 18 yards further back. In college football, extra points are kicked from 20 total yards away from the goalposts. In the NFL, extra points are kicked 33 yards from the goalposts and from the 15-yard line. Meaning, the NFL will be much more difficult for the kicker.
His field goal accuracy was far from perfect. In 53 attempts, the kicker made 34 of them. His career percentage was 64.2. In other words, he was less accurate at kicking field goals than most NFL quarterbacks are at throwing completions.
Of course, there is hope that he perfected his skills in 2022. The kicker went undrafted to the Colts and found a place on the Cleveland Browns’ practice squad in 2023, per ESPN. He was snagged by the Rams earlier this week and will make his first NFL start against the Dallas Cowboys.
As Rams New Kicker…
The hope is that General Manager Les Snead went deep into the tape on Haversik instead of simply taking a flyer on him. If this was just a shot in the dark, the Rams easily could lose again due to missed kicks for a second straight week. One way or another, Havrisik’s leg on Sunday might determine if he has a long-term future with the Rams.