INGLEWOOD — It probably wasn’t a situation that Sean McVay ever imagined he’d find himself in. But for Sunday’s 24-9 win over the Chargers, the Rams head coach submitted a 48-man game-day roster that included two kickers.
Brandon McManus was there to kick field goals and extra points, and he did so ably with four clean attempts. But the real wrinkle was calling up Joshua Karty from the practice squad to perform kickoff duties.
Karty brings a unique talent, with the ability to land kickoffs in the front end of the landing zone with an unorthodox bounce, making it difficult for returners to field the ball and giving Rams coverage men a head start in their pursuit of the ball.
And that was on display with Karty’s opening kickoff as Chargers returner Derius Davis bobbled the ball before returning it for just nine yards.
“That was a unit that we felt like we had successful outcomes (in 2025) with Josh kicking some of those squib or those dirty balls,” McVay said. “He’ll keep getting better at it. Sometimes your roster might not allow you to be able to do that, but that was the thinking.”
Karty didn’t have a perfect game. His dirty kickoffs carry some inherent risk given the ball placement, and he twice landed the ball in front of the landing zone, resulting in penalties that placed the ball at the Chargers’ 40.
But McVay seemed willing to continue the two-kicker experiment, even if it is dependent on the weekly needs of the roster. The Rams struggled so much to cover on kickoffs in last week’s win over the Raiders that McVay opted for touchbacks and automatic placements at the opponent’s 35-yard line, something that he felt was unsustainable in the long term.
“The thought process behind it was really we had not been having any success covering kicks,” McVay said. “When we’re able to cover it because (Karty) hits a really good ball that’s hard to field, just based on the semantics of how the play is officiated, if you’re telling me they’re not going to be able to field it cleanly and we’re getting a start before they’re getting their return set up and the momentum to be able to field it, that was the thinking behind it.”