LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Rams entered the season as Super Bowl favorites, but their special teams unit has remained a persistent problem as the club attempts in-season fixes. Head coach Sean McVay said he has leaned on advice from former Rams defensive coordinator Wade Phillips: “If it’s important enough to you, you’ll get it done.”
The Rams enter Week 6 with a minus-15.3% special teams DVOA, which would be the worst in history over a full season. The team made two roster moves to address the issues: cutting returner Xavier Smith on Oct. 2 and releasing kicker Harrison Mevis on Tuesday. Mevis missed a 50-yard attempt in the first quarter of Monday night’s loss to Buffalo and had a potential game-winning field goal blocked in overtime.
Mevis had missed his fourth and fifth kicks of the season, converting 5 of 9 attempts (56%), the lowest field-goal percentage in the NFL. The Rams signed kicker Blake Grupe off the New York Jets’ practice squad to replace him. Grupe split the 2025 season between the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts, going 18-of-26 on field goals with New Orleans before finishing the final five games in Indianapolis with all 11 field goals and all 10 extra points.
Grupe called his time in Indianapolis “a big stint in my career,” saying, “I hit the ground running.” He added that special teams require many moving parts: “Guys got to cover. We got to put the ball where it’s supposed to be. You’ve got to have elite specialists play to be elite on special teams.”
The kicking problems are not new. Over the past four seasons the Rams have a 77.2% field-goal rate, the second-worst mark in the NFL over that span, according to ESPN Research. Special teams have played a significant role in five of the Rams’ nine losses since the start of last season, including the playoffs. After allowing a 58-yard punt-return touchdown that sparked a 16-point comeback by Seattle in Week 16, McVay fired special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn.
McVay said there are “so many different things” to fix and that the field-goal operation had been “trending in the right direction.” The Rams are 2-3 through five games, with four contests (and all three losses) coming against 2025 playoff teams. According to ESPN Analytics, the team’s next five opponents — the Arizona Cardinals (twice), Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers and Washington Commanders — compose the easiest five-game stretch for any team this season.
