LA Rams: Stafford’s eyes highlight Week 1 Training camp recap

Special Teams

When the LA Rams claimed punter Corey Bojorquez, head coach Sean McVay rushed to squelch thoughts that the team would be holding a competition at the punter position, even though he himself had stated that all positions would be facing competition earlier this year. But veteran punter Johnny Hekker wasn’t worried in the least.  He’s the longest-tenured player on the roster, as well as one of the league’s highest-paid punters. He welcomes the competition.  Now, the question is, can he win it?

"“When push comes to shove, they have to make the best decisions for this roster,” “And there’s no running around the financial aspect of it. So, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to put together the best roster that you can.” – Johnny Hekker told reporters as per Gary Klein of the Los Angeles Times."

While all that gets sorted out, the LA Rams still need to re-confirm placekicker Matt Gay as this year’s starter. The team must also sort through the competition at long snapper between Steven Wirtel and Matthew Orzech. Orzech has a history with Rams Special Teams Coordinator Joe DeCamillis, and many expect that to give him an early advantage at kicker

Rising stars

With Tutu Atwell sidelined, the LA Rams have open tryouts with both punt and kick returns. How’s that going? Well, it appears to be a wide-open competition, and yes, even wide receiver Cooper Kupp has been spotted back there. I don’t think he is in the mix for the return job, just back there shagging punts to prevent long delays chasing down a limited supply of footballs.

So far, the return game has been two second-year guys in RB Raymond Calais with  WR J.J. Koski (spelling error below?) and two rookies in WR Jeremiah Haydel and RB Otis Anderson Jr.  Of course, with the return of Tutu Atwell, he will likely be added as well.

That’s a curious note. Jeremiah Haydel is an undrafted rookie wide receiver signed out of Texas State at San Marcos. At 6-foot-0 and 170-pounds with an uninspiring 4.83-second 40-yard dash time, he has gotten almost no press so far. But this little tidbit from Ryan Dyrud (he’s definitely worth a follow folks!) warrants putting Haydel on your radar.

There will be much more to follow on this front, as preseason games will fill in a lot of the gaps that will remain throughout training camp. Special teams will have a lot of updates, as the Rams truly want to turn the corner in that area.