The Los Angeles Rams announced that they placed punters Johnny Hekker and Corey Bojorquez on the Reserve/COVID-19 list.
Although the NFL is set to welcome fans at full capacity across the league, they are still going to maintain the COVID-19 protocols for teams throughout the 2021 NFL season. The designation means that both players either tested positive for COVID-19 or they were in close contact with someone that did.
The lack of punters presented a bit of a problem for the Rams during their second preseason game against the Las Vegas Raiders. This forced kicker Matt Gay to field punts for the first time since his high school days while head coach Sean McVay took an aggressive approach with the offense where he could.
Hekker is widely regarded as the best punter in the NFL with a career average 46.9 yards per punt. However, the four-time All-Pro is coming off a rough year that saw his average dip to 45.6 yards per punt.
This led to plenty of speculation regarding the punter situation after the Rams signed Bojorquez this offseason. Contrary to Hekker, he enjoyed a career year by leading the NFL with a 50.8 gross average yards per punt.
Both players punted twice during the preseason opener versus the Los Angeles Chargers. Hekker boomed it for 91 total yards and 45.5-yard average while Bojorquez went for 86 yards and a 43.0 average.
Hekker has downplayed the notion of Bojorquez’s arrival being anything other than a healthy competition. He is even admittedly relishing in learning from him and his approach to the position.
Regardless, it will be interesting to see how the situation pans out once the preseason comes to a close.
