3 areas fans will see marked improvement from 2024 Rams roster

III: Special Teams

While special teams are often the phase of a football fans greatest joys (a game-winning field goal as time runs out) and greatest despair (the opponent winning on a last second game winning field goal), special teams are seldom marked with focused attention by the team's personnel department or the coaching staff. When the Rams hired new ST Coordinator Chase Blackburn in 2023, the team truly did not help him out. Only punter Ethan Evans was drafted. The rest of Blackburn's entire special teams specialist were signed after the 2023 NFL Draft

So what improvements can fans look forward to in 2024?

Returns

While he is another running back from the tiny-mighty-mo category, veteran RB Boston Scott brings rich experience to the Rams at returning punts and kickoffs. In fact, he has six NFL seasons worth of return experience. That's compelling evidence that suggests he is in the queue to win the starting return job for 2024. But he is not alone.

The Rams signed Ohio WR Sam Wiglusz and Kansas DB Kenny Logan after the draft, both of whom have extensive return experience from college.

Coverage

While coverage teams are a combination of veterans and rookies who are swift, physical, and sure-handed tacklers, the best of the bunch are often found from the linebacker, tight end, defensive back, and wide receiver position groups. That is due to the fact that those positions blend the best attributes of successful coverage teams, and are most at home running in space. While the Rams did not target coverage players per se, the team did land a number of key players who project as upgrades to covering punts and kickoffs.

Punts/kickoffs

The punting and kickoff duties will almost certainly be handled by second-year punter Ethan Evans. While Evans did an admirable job as a rookie, he can and should be expected to be even better in 2024. Ideally, that means generating more hang time on his punts and kickoffs, allowing his coverage unit to get into position and shut down returns before they happen.

Field goals

Almost all fans have been lobbying hard for the team to invest in a kicker since the start of the 2023 NFL season. Well, the team has answered their pleas by drafting Stanford kicker Joshua Karty, rumored to be one of the best college kickers in the past five to ten years. Still, the team did bring back last year's rookie kicker Tanner Brown as an insurance policy.

While there will be kicking competition, Karty is almost guaranteed to win the job, and here's why: Karty is viewed as one of the best kickers to come out of college in some time. The front office knows that if the team tries to sneak him to their practice squad, another NFL will sign Karty in a heartbeat. That means that the team will need to hunker down and be ready for a less-than-spectacular rookie season. But with Karty, those struggles are unlikely to happen. He is oozing with kicker confidence, and he has hoped to kick for the Rams all along.