Tag: Austin MacGinnis

Rams protect 3 practice squad players, including a punter and kicker

The Rams are playing it safe on special teams, protecting three practice squad players this week.

The NFL made significant changes to the practice squad this year in wake of the coronavirus pandemic, allowing teams to not only carry more players all year, but also giving them the chance to protect up to four players each week from being signed by other teams.

The Rams hadn’t taken advantage of the protection rule up to this point, but they’re taking a more guarded approach as the season winds down. The team announced Tuesday that it has protected punter Brandon Wright, kicker Austin MacGinnis and long snapper Colin Holba for Week 15.

Those players cannot be signed by other teams this week as a result of the designation.

As the Rams’ tweet noted, Wright is a newcomer to the practice squad, being signed on Tuesday. Johnny Hekker is healthy and playing well, but the Rams want to have a backup plan in the event that Hekker lands on the COVID-19 list or suffers an injury.

The same goes for MacGinnis and Holba, acting as emergency options in case Matt Gay or Jake McQuaide can’t play due to a COVID-19 outbreak.

Rams undecided on starting kicker, could have two active vs. Bucs

The Rams haven’t decided whether Austin MacGinnis or Matt Gay will be their top kicker this week.

It’s been a revolving door at kicker for the Rams this season, cycling through player after player in an attempt to replace the departed Greg Zuerlein. Samuel Sloman failed to and Kai Forbath got hurt after experiencing struggles of his own, opening the door for two more kickers: Austin MacGinnis and Matt Gay.

MacGinnis is on the practice squad and Gay was signed to the 53-man roster, but both are eligible to kick on Monday night against the Buccaneers. MacGinnis has an edge, having been with the Rams during the offseason and now again in-season, while Gay will be eligible to practice for the first time Saturday.

Sean McVay likes what he’s seen from MacGinnis, but he’s not ready to make him the team’s primary kicker for Week 11.

“He’s done really well with that,” McVay said of his kick height and hangtime. “You can see guys are excited. He’s had two good practices now and definitely been positive. There’s nothing quite like getting into those real games. But with what he can control, he’s done a really nice job these last couple of days. We’ve been very pleased with Austin.”

Gay will have one day to prove himself to the coaches, with his arrival being delayed due to COVID-19 protocols. If he kicks well in practice on Saturday, however, he could get the nod against the Buccaneers.

“I mean, (MacGinnis) has done a great job controlling what he can, but Matt is going to get an opportunity to come in here Saturday, compete, and we’re going to make the best decision for the Rams,” he said Friday. “… The kickoff thing is a big part of it as well. So, we’ll take all those things into consideration. One of those two guys will kick for us on Monday, but definitely nothing is set in stone and we’re going to be open-minded when Matt comes in here.”

Because of new rules put in place by the NFL to help teams through the pandemic and positive COVID-19 tests, the Rams could very easily have both kickers active on Monday night without needing to create an extra roster spot.

MacGinnis can be elevated from the practice squad to the game-day roster twice and the Rams wouldn’t need to cut anyone to make room for him. Gay is already on the 53-man roster, so he’s eligible to kick right away, but it’s not out of the question for the Rams to have both active Monday.

“You can do that because the nice thing is, because (MacGinnis) is on our practice squad, you have two opportunities to be able to bring him up with the situation and it doesn’t affect your 53,” McVay explained. “So, that could easily be something that we would do. Then if you feel like that’s your guy moving forward, then maybe you decide, ‘OK, do we need to create a spot?’ But because we’ve been able to stay fairly healthy and then put some of those other guys on IR, it’s not like we’re really reaching to feel like, ‘Oh man, we have to get this guy up or I have to get this guy down.’ Because you can only have those 48 on game day anyways. If that’s a direction that we go, it doesn’t hinder us at all.”

Saturday’s competition will likely decide which kicker the Rams roll with in Tampa Bay, but that could also change in Week 12 against the 49ers if whoever they pick struggles Monday night. Los Angeles has options and it seems the team is going to consider every possibility this week.

Rams still have a kicking conundrum to solve during bye week

Is Kai Forbath really the answer at kicker?

We’re now eight weeks into the regular season and the Los Angeles Rams still have not securely filled the void at kicker left by Greg Zuerlein. They gave rookie Samuel Sloman a shot after picking him over Lirim Hajrullahu and Austin MacGinnins in camp, but he only lasted seven games. Kai Forbath was signed off the Bears’ practice squad to replace Sloman, but he missed a 48-yarder on Sunday against the Dolphins – and it wasn’t even close.

MacGinnis is back on the Rams’ practice squad and will have a chance to once again prove himself to the coaching staff, but even he’s not a proven solution for Los Angeles’ kicking woes. In eight games, the Rams’ kickers have already missed seven attempts: four field goals and three PATs.

Sean McVay and John Bonamego will have some extra time to mull things over during the team’s bye week, deciding whether to continue forward with Forbath or give MacGinnis a chance. Based on McVay’s comments Monday, it sounds like Forbath will remain the top option.

“Obviously it was disappointing to see the result on the one field goal that we attempted to try to cut it to a one-possession game and miss-hit that,” he said. “I do think you want to still demonstrate a little bit of patience, understanding that one kick – that was big – it didn’t help us yesterday, but I think you want to give a guy a chance to continue to compete and evaluate. With that small inventory that we had from yesterday, we’ll continue to evaluate both of those guys and Kai will remain in that role right now.”

The trade market is an option for the Rams if they don’t feel great about either of their current candidates. However, it’s rare for a team to part ways with a good kicker via trade, given the low return that comes with it.

The free-agent market is barren, too, providing no better options to Los Angeles than Forbath and MacGinnis. In all likelihood, the competition between those two will be ongoing into Week 10 against the Seahawks, thanks to the expanded practice squad that allows the Rams to keep two players in-house.

Until they find a consistent solution to this problem, they should keep scouring for candidates. Because although their kickers haven’t cost them a win yet, that could very well happen in the second half of the season if things don’t improve.

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Rams kicking competition is ‘far from decided’

Sean McVay didn’t provide any clarity on which kicker is winning the battle.

Position battles across the Rams’ roster are beginning to settle themselves out. Micah Kiser and Travin Howard (if healthy) look like the starting inside linebackers, the offensive line has really taken shape, and John Wolford is undoubtedly the No. 2 quarterback.

One competition that isn’t close to being done is at kicker. Austin MacGinnis, Sam Sloman and Lirim Hajrullahu are still battling it out, and the winner may not be determined until the very last minute.

Sean McVay provided somewhat of an update on that situation, though he didn’t give any indications of who’s in the lead.

“You want to use every bit of the time that we have to really evaluate this,” McVay said Monday. “It’s certainly a very important decision for us and we have three guys that are very capable. The more opportunities that we can create to try to simulate those game experiences is what’s important. We’re going to take all of our time and I think all those guys have done a nice job, but it certainly is far from decided.”

None of the three kickers performed particularly well in the second scrimmage, which complicated things a bit. Hajrullahu seemed to be performing the best in practice and in the first scrimmage, but he only went 5-for-8 on Saturday, which matched Sloman; MacGinnis was 6-for-8.

The Rams will have to trim their roster to 53 players by Saturday at 4 p.m. ET, and it’s expected that two kickers will be among the 27 players released. We just don’t have any indication of which kicker will be the one the Rams keep.

Rams ‘not in a rush’ to pick a kicker, won’t rule out keeping two

Sean McVay left the door open for the Rams to keep two kickers, or stash one on the practice squad.

The Rams’ search for a kicker to replace Greg Zuerlein has not exactly been easy. They’ve turned over stones at just about every level of football, bringing in one kicker each from the CFL, XFL and college.

The mostly virtual offseason prevented the Rams from truly evaluating Lirim Hajrullahu, Austin MacGinnis and Sam Sloman before training camp, condensing the window to only a few short weeks. And you can bet the Rams are going to use just about every grain of sand in the hourglass before picking their kicker for the 2020 season.

With restrictions on what can and can’t be reported out of training camp, it’s hard to get a feel for which kicker has the lead in this race. Sean McVay hasn’t even indicated that one has pulled ahead when talking to the media. He said Wednesday that the team is going to take as long as it can to decide, indicating the competition will go right up to final cuts on Sept. 5.

“That’s a really important part of what we’re evaluating right now. All three guys bring certain things to the table. That’s another thing – it’s how many different pressure situations can you try to create in these practice settings to truly evaluate guys that are younger players? You’ve got a rookie and some other guys that don’t have a whole lot of experience at this level, but I think they’ve done a nice job. Coach (John) Bonamego has been excellent leading the way for them. … We’ll see if one of these guys starts to really separate themselves from the other two.”

McVay won’t rule anything out at this point, either. He didn’t shoot down the possibility of stashing an extra kicker on the practice squad, considering the NFL has increased the number of players a team can carry on its practice squad to 16.

“That’s a possibility, it’s something you can look into just given the fact that they’re expanding the practice squad rosters,” he said. “Those will be decisions we’re certainly not in a rush to make and we’re going to use every day that we have to really evaluate them.”

The fourth-year coach wouldn’t even guarantee that the Rams will only keep one kicker on the 53-man roster, leaving the door open for the possibility of retaining two of the three when the regular season begins – one for kickoffs and one for field goals.

Of course, the Rams would prefer to have a kicker who can do both, and McVay acknowledged that in his response.

“That’s always a part of the consideration,” McVay said of possibly keeping two kickers. “I think the ideal approach is to be able to have a guy that can do both. Just because of how minimal, even though you have the ability to have 48 guys up this year on the game-day roster, you want to be able to try to have that guy be able to do both, unless you’re in a situation when your punter ends up kicking off. We’ll let Hekker continue to be the best at what he’s doing with punting and holding.”

It seemed Hajrullahu pulled ahead slightly in the team’s scrimmage on Saturday after making all five of his kicks in the exhibition game. MacGinnis went 4-for-5, while Sloman lagged behind with a 3-for-5 showing.

However, in Wednesday’s practice, Hajrullahu missed two field goal attempts, which made the competition even more interesting.

The Rams haven’t committed to one kicker yet and they may not until they trim their roster, but time is running out for them to pick someone to replace Zuerlein.

Rams agree to terms with former XFL kicker Austin MacGinnis

MacGinnis was the XFL’s top kicker last season, making all 10 of his FG attempts.

It turns out the Los Angeles Rams will have a competition at kicker this summer, whenever football returns. After it was first reported that the team was signing former CFL kicker Lirim Hajrullahu, the Rams announced they have also agreed to terms with former XFL kicker Austin MacGinnis.

Los Angeles is searching for someone to replace Greg Zuerlein, who left in free agency to sign with the Cowboys, reuniting with John Fassel. Hajrullahu and MacGinnis are the only kickers currently on the Rams’ roster, but that can still change.

MacGinnis, 24, was the top kicker in the XFL, making all 10 of his field goal attempts and leading the XFL in touchbacks with four. Before the XFL, he also played in the AAF in 2019 and was the primary kicker at Kentucky from 2015-2017.

Rams GM Les Snead said recently that the Rams are looking for a kicker who’s strong from the 40-49-yard range after Zuerlein missed six of his 11 attempts from that distance last year.

7 XFL players the Ravens could target

With XFL players free to sign with NFL teams, here are seven names the Baltimore Ravens could be interested in during free agency

The coronavirus pandemic has impacted sports all across the world with several big-name events being delayed or even canceled. One such event was the 2020 debut campaign for the XFL, which stopped after just five games. With the spring league cutting its inaugural season short, any players who took part are now allowed to sign with an NFL team, according to ESPN’s Kevin Seifert.

For many of the XFL’s players, playing a handful of live games this spring has allowed them to put some tape together and hopefully impress both scouts and general managers. Plenty of small school prospects that likely just got missed previously got a chance to show what they could do against some standouts.

With the NFL in the middle of free agency and a whole new market of players opened up to sign, here are seven players the Baltimore Ravens could be interested in bringing aboard.

Mary Holt-USA TODAY Sports

WR Cam Phillips

Phillips played for the Houston Roughnecks and ending up leading the XFL in all three major receiving categories. Phillips finished the season with 31 receptions for 455 yards along with nine touchdown catches.

Phillips was an undrafted free agent out of Virginia Tech in 2018 although he did spend most of that season with the Buffalo Bills. Phillips played two games for the Bills, catching his only target for nine yards.

The Ravens need to get more out of their wide receivers in 2020 and haven’t really addressed the position in the early stages of free agency. Phillips’ production for the Roughnecks makes him a player that should certainly be on the radar of most NFL teams.

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Giants worked out several kickers on Tuesday

The New York Giants worked out several kickers on Tuesday, but reportedly informed them they intended to give Aldrick Rosas one more week.

New York Giants kicker Aldrick Rosas has missed at least one field goal or point after attempt in five consecutive games, became the first Giants kicker to miss two or more field goals in a game since 2005 and is statistically among the worst in football entering Week 13.

Despite that, head coach Pat Shurmur has appeared somewhat committed to his struggling kicker — a player who he is openly fond of — telling reporters on Monday they are focused on helping Rosas improve.

“I’m sure if we do bring any kickers in, it’ll be made public. Certainly, it’s unacceptable to miss the kicks like we did. But I think it’s important that the guys that are here continue to improve. In all areas, become more consistent with what they do. I think that’s the focus with Aldrick at this point,” Shurmur said on a conference call.

Although Rosas seems to have a lengthy leash, the Giants did let him know on Tuesday that he’s gotta step it up by working out a handful of kickers, including Giorgio Tavecchio, Blair Walsh, Austin MacGinnis and Cole Hedlund.

After the workouts, the Giants reportedly told the kickers they would not be signed but to stay by their phones because a call could come in sometime next week.

The pressure is clearly on Rosas at this point, so he, Zak DeOssie and Riley Dixon need to get things figured out. If he has another bad miss against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, that could end up being all she wrote.

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