LA Rams just made their stance on kicker Joshua Karty crystal clear

The field goal kicking in the first season of ST Coordinator Chase Blackburn's tenure with the team was nowhere near where he wanted it to be. But the Los Angeles Rams had cleared the slate, parting ways with all special teams specialists. In response, Blackburn had to restock the Rams roster in his first season with the team. He handpicked P Ethan Evans, LS Alex Ward, and set up a kicker competition between undrafted rookies Tanner Brown and Christopher Dunn. Neither kicker worked out.

That led to the team drafting Stanford rookie placekicker prospect Joshua Karty in 2024. While his 85.3 percent field goal completion rate only ended the season as the 19th most accurate kicker, Karty's 29 field goals made earned him a more prestigious spot as the 10th most prolific scoring kicker in the NFL.

When it came to the 2025 NFL Playoffs, he made four out of four field goals and five out of five extra points. It's no wonder that Rams Head Coach Sean McVay had nothing but praise for his second-year kicker.

The question is, can he do even better in Year 2?

Isn't it obvious? Karty is the kicker of the future

Unlike the team flirting with competition in 2024 by re-signing kicker Tanner Brown, the team made no such overtures. The Rams are all-in on Joshua Karty this year. And if Karty follows the career track of past NFL kickers and follows through on his own development and progression, Rams fans are in for a treat in 2025.

To place this all in perspective, Karty missed just five field goals. The last field goal that Joshua Karty failed to make was one attempt against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 12. In the eight games from Week 4 through Week 12, Karty was only able to successfully make 11 of 16 field goals, a span in which he was only kicking 68.8 percent of his field goals.

But he course corrected, and successfully booted his final 17 field goal attempts last season.

Even with that rough patch in the season, Karty was far better than the combined kicking of Brett Maher and Lucas Havrisik from the previous season. They combined for just a 74.4 percent FG percentage, and made only 56 percent of field goals at 40+ yards. For comparison's sake, Karty kicked nearly 77 percent of his field goals from 40+ yards distance. And he was a rookie.

It doesn't get easier as a second-year kicker. Players get better. And it's not outlandish to anticipate Karty making more than 90 percent of his field goals in 2025. As long as he can make field goals, the Rams stand a chance of winning every game.

As always, thanks for reading.

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