The LA Rams signed a gem in Cameron Dicker. But is he a kicker or punter?

Punter or kicker for Dicker?

While some analysts made the same initial assessment of Dicker on the LA Rams roster as competing for a kicking role, the more research I’ve done on this young man leads me to believe that the Rams found one helluva punting diamond-in-the-rough. And the more that I compare that conclusion with the LA Rams’ need for a punter this year, the more I am convinced that is how this plays out.

While he was only a punter for one season, he was impressive. In fact, his 46.8 yards per punt was good enough to end up as the 11th-ranked punter in all of college football. And that was just his debut at the position. Why was he suddenly thrust into the punting role? He had to take over for injured punter Ryan Bujcevski on November 10, 2020, and never looked back. In fact, he did so well in his relief role that the job was his the following year.

That first year he punted just eight times for 349 yards for an average of 43.6 yards. Not bad for fresh off the bench, but not the sort of average that would normally attract the attention of NFL scouts as potential signings. And that is where we fell off the radar for many teams. But for the LA Rams? Ah, there’s the rub. They remained vigilant, more than happy to be patient and observe how this young man may perform in 2021.

Their patience was rewarded, as Dicker earned the starting punter role and proceed to punt 47 times for a total of 2,200 yards. That upped his average to an eyebrow-raising 46.8 and earned him a spot as a national semi-finalist for the very prestigious Ray Guy award. We’ll talk about that in a moment.