LA Rams change kickers, promoting 'The Thiccer Kicker' Harrison Mevis over Joshua Karty

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Rams are changing kickers, with Harrison Mevis set to make his NFL debut on Sunday in place of Joshua Karty.

The Rams (6-2) are not releasing Karty despite his NFL-high eight field goals or extra points that have been missed or blocked this season, coach Sean McVay said Friday.

But Los Angeles will have a new kicker and a new long snapper when it travels to face the San Francisco 49ers (6-3). Jake McQuaide, the Rams' long snapper from 2011 to 2020, is returning to take over for Alex Ward.

“I still do have a lot of confidence in Josh Karty,” McVay said. “He’s not going anywhere ... but it’s (about) who do I think gives us the best chance to have successful outcomes, particularly in that operation with the given factors on Sunday against the Niners?”

Karty and the Rams' placekicking unit have struggled all season, and the mistakes played a major role in both of their losses.

Philadelphia blocked two field goal attempts by Karty in the fourth quarter of the Eagles' 33-26 win in September, including a potential game-winning field goal from 44 yards that was instead returned for a game-ending touchdown by Jordan Davis.

In the Rams' 26-23 overtime loss to San Francisco last month at SoFi Stadium, Karty missed a 53-yard field goal attempt in the first half before his extra point attempt with 10:39 to play was blocked.

Karty badly missed an extra point attempt and a 39-yard field goal attempt last Sunday in the Rams' blowout win over New Orleans. Afterward, McVay said the Rams “can't continue like this,” and he finally made a change to the weakest area on a potential Super Bowl-contending team.

“We’ve talked about this probably more than anything that I’ve ever had to talk about since I’ve been the head coach of the Rams," McVay said. "But there are a lot of things that go into it. ... What I can’t predict is the future, but I do think that this is going to be the best thing for this game. We feel like we’ve got two good kickers on our team.”

McVay has been careful not to blame Karty solely for the unit's failures, but the second-year pro apparently deserved enough of the blame for the Rams to bench him. Karty has missed three field goal attempts and had two blocked, while two of his three unsuccessful extra points were blocked — more than the rest of the NFL combined.

“The operation and the standard that we have set hasn’t been reached to this point,” special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn said Thursday. “I think we all know that, and it’s about what’s best for the Rams. We love all the players that we have here, but we just have to always continue to evaluate. At the end of the day, competition breeds success.”

The Rams signed Mevis and McQuaide to their practice squad earlier this week. The kicking competition will be re-evaluated on Monday, McVay said.

Mevis was an All-American in 2021 during his successful college career at Missouri, where he became famous as the “The Thiccer Kicker” for his comparative bulk. But he hadn't cracked an NFL roster since Carolina signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2024.

Mevis played for the Birmingham Stallions of the UFL last season and made 20 of his 21 field goal attempts before going to training camp with the New York Jets, who gave their job to Nick Folk.

McVay said he isn't worried about Mevis making his NFL debut in this intense NFC West rivalry game.

“He’s kicked in a lot of big games when you go back to his career at Missouri,” McVay said. “There are always those factors that come into it, but I think at the end of the day you have to have the clarity and the courage to be able to make the decisions that you think are best.”

McQuaide has also returned to the Rams after Ward occasionally struggled to get the ball to the Rams' holders with proper lace placement. Blackburn and McVay believe the Rams have fixed the blocking issues that led to Karty's earlier blocked kicks.

Karty was the Rams' sixth-round draft pick out of Stanford in 2024, and he performed decently as a rookie. He went 29 of 34 on field goal attempts, but missed four extra point attempts.

Mevis would be the 11th kicker to attempt a field goal for the Rams during McVay's nine seasons in charge.

NOTES: WR Jordan Whittington (back) is expected to play despite missing much of practice this week, McVay said. ... CB Darious Williams (shoulder) is expected to return after missing last week's win over the Saints.

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