The Los Angeles Rams signed Blake Grupe off the Jets’ practice squad Tuesday, and he arrives with a clear job. Make the kicks, and keep special teams from doing to this season what it did to the last one.
Last season, the Rams’ bottom-of-the-league special teams units helped cost them the NFC West title and the conference’s top seed, which went to Seattle, as ESPN’s Dan Graziano pointed out this week. Monday’s 37-34 overtime loss to the Bills looked like a rerun. Ray Davis returned the opening kickoff 70 yards, Harrison Mevis missed a 50-yard field goal in the first quarter and Greg Rousseau blocked Mevis’ 48-yard try in overtime. Tyler Bass won it five plays later.
What the Rams are getting in Grupe
Credit: Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images
“In the kicking game, especially with our PAT, field goal, not even close to good enough,” Sean McVay said after the loss. “It cost us the game tonight.” Mevis was released after making 5 of 9 field goals this season.
Grupe has made 86 of 105 career field goals, an 81.9% clip with a long of 60. He went 30 of 37 as a Saints rookie in 2023 and 27 of 31 in 2024, then missed eight kicks in his first 12 games last year before New Orleans let him go. Indianapolis picked him up, and he finished 11 of 11, including a 60-yarder at Seattle that set a Colts record.
The kicker change is the only one coming. The Rams hired special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone this offseason, signed special teams-specific players such as linebacker Grant Stuard and moved that portion of practice to the start of the day. McVay is sticking with the plan. “I have [a lot of confidence] in Bubba Ventrone,” he said Tuesday, according to Pro Football Talk. “There’s no changes that are gonna be made there.”
The problems showed up before Monday, too, with a long punt return setting up an Eagles touchdown in Week 4. At 2-3, the Rams don’t have room for more. Grupe’s first kick at SoFi Stadium comes Sunday against the Cardinals, and the 5-0 49ers already own wins over every other team in the division.
