The Los Angeles Rams have experienced some turnover to their special teams in recent years. Despite all the changes, punter Johnny Hekker remains as a mainstay providing some continuity for this changing group.
However, the Rams still made a surprising move by signing former Buffalo Bills punter Corey Bojorquez. They now have three punters on the roster leading up to training camp this offseason.
Bojorquez is coming off an impressive year in Buffalo. This has raised speculation regarding whether the team is seeking out alternative options.
Although general manager Les Snead is still confident in Hekker’s abilities, he explained that the prospect of adding Bojorquez off the waiver wire as too good to pass up.
“I will put that under the, I call it the ‘Nickell Robey Bucket’ and every year during free agency, right when the bells about to ring, each team gets a waiver wire and has all the lists of their unrestricted free agents on it but there is this subset list of players who weren’t tendered by their club for a reason and I know Nickell Robey(-Coleman) was one of those players, (LB) Ramik Wilson, if you remember him. So, I know our pro staff, (Assistant Director Pro Scouting) John McKay has been leading the charge with Ray (Agnew) leaving for bigger and better things and (Pro Scout) Matt Waugh working with him, but I know the punter was one that they recommended as someone that had a very good year, didn’t get tendered for (inaudible) of a reasons.
“So, to the Nickell Robey-Coleman signing, to the Ramik Wilson signing, us signing (QB) Duck (Delvin) Hodges this year, claiming (OL) Austin Blythe or (CB) Troy Hill or (CB) Darious Williams. It’s when a player comes available, it’s a chance to add and I think, obviously Johnny’s resume speaks for itself. Right now I think we’ve got the most specialists of probably anybody in the league. We have probably seven. Probably got two kickers, two punters and one guy who can kick and punt and two long snappers, but I know we began that a little bit last year, because during COVID if you did have an outbreak and you did lose some players, if you lost a corner, there’s usually three, four or five others that you have an answer for, but with the specialist, if you lose anyone in contact tracing, there’s truly no answers, so it goes under that bucket.”
Snead also clarified that that aside from the usual expectations at practice, there is no punting competition heating up this offseason.
“Well, I think anytime you go to the practice field it’s a competition but no.”
Snead’s comments indicate that bringing Bojorquez in was nothing more than the team doing its due diligence on quality players being made available. Of course, the added element of adding him to the mix alongside Hekker and Brandon Wright should help light a fire at this position.
It is easy to see why Bojorquez caught Snead’s attention after finishing the 2020 campaign leading the league with an average of 50.8 yards per punt. He also tied Cincinnati Bengals punter Kevin Huber for the longest punt with 72 yards.
Meanwhile, Hekker struggled to find his rhythm after averaging a career-low 45.6 yards per punt. Regardless, it is clear that Snead has every intention of allowing him to get back on track this season.
