Tag: lucas havrisik

Bills back kicker Tyler Bass with latest roster move

Bills back kicker Tyler Bass with latest roster move

The Buffalo Bills showed they still have faith in kicker Tyler Bass.

The team announced on Thursday that they have released kicker Lucas Havrisik from the practice squad. Havrisik was brought in to compete with Bass in practice just two weeks ago. It turns out there wasn’t much of a competition.

In nine career games in the NFL (all in 2023), Havrisik is a 75% percent kicker, having connected on 15-of-20 field goal attempts. He is also 19-of-22 on extra points. Not ideal numbers to start his career.

So, for now at least, Bass remains the guy for the Bills.

So far in 2024, Bass has made 12-of-15 field goals (80%) which is good for 30th in the NFL. He is 26-of-28 on extra points (92.9%) which ranks 32nd.

With the open spot on the practice squad after the release of Havrisik, the team brought back wide receiver Deon Cain.

Cain rejoins the Bills after being released from the team this preseason. He appeared in 15 games across 2019 and 2020 and has just nine career catches.

Learn more about Cain below: 

Tyler Bass on Bills signing new kicker: ‘It’s a results-based league’

Tyler Bass on Bills signing new kicker: ‘It’s a results-based league’

Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott said he was “concerned,” like others, with the performances of kicker Tyler Bass.

After those comments earlier this week, the team went ahead and signed Lucas Havrisik, another kicker, to the practice squad. A clear sign to Bass that he’s on thin ice.

After all that, Bass commented that he gets it.

“You’ve got to be fully accountable with yourself,” Bass said. “You understand it. It’s a results-based league.”

Bass has made just 82.8 percent of his kicks throughout the 2023 season and is connecting at a 75 percent clip this year.

For more from Bass, see the attached clip below:

Browns sign former Rams kicker Lucas Havrisik

Former Rams kicker Lucas Havrisik is getting another opportunity with the Browns

After trading away Cade York to the Washington Commanders, the Cleveland Browns announced this morning that they have signed former Rams kicker Lucas Havrisik.

An undrafted free agent out of Arizona, Havrisik spent the 2023 season with the Los Angeles Rams where he appeared in nine games for the franchise.

During his time in LA, Havrisik went 15-for-20 on field goal attempts with a long of 52 yards. He would also convert 19 out of 22 extra points.

Havrisik’s time with the team came to an end when he was waived on January 1, 2024, and replaced by Brett Maher. This will be Havrisik’s third stint with the Browns.

Browns bring back K Lucas Havrisik after trading Cade York

The Browns add another kicker who likely ends up on their practice squad.

The Cleveland Browns have more kicker transactions as they have re-signed Lucas Havrisik.

This signing comes after the Browns traded York to the Washington Commanders in exchange for a conditional seventh round pick on Thursday. York has been perfect this preseason after returning to the Browns looking to get his game corrected entering year three. He earned the right to kick somewhere else.

This left the Browns with the need for a kicker for the preseason finale as Dustin Hopkins likely rests again. The Browns also love to have a kicker on the practice squad, and with York gone to Washington, that role needs to be filled. Look for Havrisik to be the practice squad kicker for the Browns once again in 2024.

Havrisik has bounced around the league in between his stops on the Browns’ practice squad. This includes a stint on the 53-man roster of the Los Angeles Rams a year ago. In that nine-game stint, Havrisik connected on 75 percent (15-of-20) of his kicks and 86 percent (19-of-22) of his extra points. Havrisik was 2-of-3 on kicks beyond 50 yards but struggled with his midrange game, hitting just 2-of-6 with the Rams a year ago.

The Browns now have some insurance, however, in case the newly extended Hopkins suffers another hamstring injury again in 2024.

Browns waive kicker Lucas Havrisik for the second time this offseason

The Browns are back down to two kickers

The Cleveland Browns have waived kicker Lucas Havrisik for the second time this off-season. The team waived him on May 14th before signing him back to the roster on May 20th. Cleveland carried three kickers on the roster: Dustin Hopkins and former draft pick Cade York, who is back for his second stint with the team.

Havrisik also spent time on the Browns practice squad last year before the Rams snatched him up for their active roster in 2023. It was interesting to see the team carry three kickers in camp, so it makes sense that they have trimmed it back down to two.

Cleveland now has an empty roster spot, with OTAs continuing this week and mandatory minicamp next week. One area that could be added to is the tight end room, which lacks much outside of David Njoku. Some added depth at linebacker could also make sense, with some interesting names still available in free agency.

Browns waive QB Jacob Sirmon, sign K Lucas Havrisik

The Browns make a minor roster move that may signal at the health of two different quarterbacks.

Just over a week ago, the Cleveland Browns signed quarterback Jacob Sirmon after his time at rookie minicamp and waived their third kicker Lucas Havrisik. Now, they have done the reverse.

Havrisik is back with the Browns and Sirmon has been waived to make room for him. While this may seem unusual, this is a great sign for the health of the Browns’ quarterback room as Organized Team Activities (OTAs) are set to begin in Berea.

Leading up to this week, there were still health questions about quarterbacks Deshaun Watson and Dorian Thompson-Robinson as offseason activities get underway. However, the waiving of Sirmon indicates both players could be set to see more reps this offseason than initially thought.

Watson is still recovering from a shoulder injury that ended his season, while Thompson-Robinson is fighting back from a hip injury that ended his. Both will likely be on a pitch count this offseason leading up to training camp, but it is promising they will be getting some work in during OTAs.

Browns sign K Lucas Havrisik to futures deal after spending time on practice squad

The former practice squad kicker returns.

While he was signed off of their practice squad by the Los Angeles Rams this year, kicker Lucas Havrisik returns to the Cleveland Browns on a futures deal.

Losing other practice squad players like cornerback A.J. Green III and safety Tanner McCalister to other teams, the Browns are now rounding out all of their futures deals as they enter the offseason.

Havrisik was signed to the Browns’ practice squad after final cutdowns and after former fourth rounder Cade York opted to join the Tennessee Titans instead. Eight weeks into the season, however, Havrisik was signed off of Cleveland’s practice squad by the Rams.

He kicked in nine games for the Rams this season, knocking home just 75 percent of his looks in that span. Sporadic on extra points as well, Havrisik missed three of them in his nine-week span. This forced the Browns to sign Riley Patterson after Dustin Hopkins hurt his hamstring down the stretch and could not return for the rest of the season.

Heading into camp with two kickers, the Browns will not need Hopkins to take every single rep this summer the way they needed to give York every single opportunity to get better.

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Rams’ abysmal special teams unit is one of the worst in NFL history

With yet another awful performance on special teams, the Rams’ unit now ranks as one of the worst in NFL history

It has not been a banner year for the Rams’ special teams unit. Los Angeles hired Chase Blackburn to replace Joe DeCamillis as the special teams coordinator but his first season with the Rams has been nothing short of a disaster.

From the kicking game to punt coverage to the return phase, everything has gone wrong on special teams for the Rams. It’s been so bad that the team has been forced to make a kicking change again ahead of the season finale after cutting Lucas Havrisik, who took over for Brett Maher.

The Rams have missed 11 field goals and 15 total kicks, both of which are the most in the NFL. Their 11 missed field goals are more than any team since 2015.

It’s bad bad.

Punter Ethan Evans ranks near the bottom of the NFL in net average (39.1 yards), in part because the coverage has been so bad. The Rams have allowed the second-most punt return yards (478) and they’re the only team to allow two touchdowns on punt returns. One was the Ravens’ walk-off in overtime and the other was a 94-yarder against the Giants on Sunday that nearly cost them a win.

Los Angeles is allowing 26.9 yards per kickoff return, which also ranks fourth-worst in the NFL. They haven’t allowed a touchdown on a kickoff return, but the tackling has been awful in that department.

All of this has resulted in one of the worst special teams performances in NFL history. According to Aaron Schatz, the Rams have the sixth-lowest special teams DVOA ever. It’s also three times worse than any other team this season, which is saying something.

Special teams has been costly for the Rams all season and it will need to improve with the playoffs approaching. They took a first step toward hopefully fixing the field goal operation by bringing back Maher on Monday after cutting Havrisik, but there’s no guarantee things will improve.

Sean McVay seems to be growing understandably frustrated with it all, too.

“It was tough,” he said of the Rams’ special teams Sunday. “There’s a lot of things that we have to be better at so I want to be careful to say too much until I’m really able to look at the totality of it all. I’m very engaged in the offense and defense, and some of the different things that didn’t occur today, we’ve got to do a better job there. That wasn’t good enough.”

Football is mostly about offense and defense, but special teams can lose you games.

Rams cut K Lucas Havrisik following recent misses

The Rams have cut Lucas Havrisik, who missed two PATs in Sunday’s win over the Giants

The Los Angeles Rams are making another change at kicker. The team announced on Monday that it has waived Lucas Havrisik from the active roster.

Havrisik spent the last nine games with the Rams, replacing Brett Maher as the team’s kicker. Like Maher, Havrisik struggled with his accuracy.

He made just 15 of his 20 field goal attempts, going 4-for-9 from 40-plus yards. Havrisik also missed three of his 22 PATs, including two in Sunday’s win over the Giants.

The Rams don’t have another kicker on the roster or practice squad, so they’ll need to sign someone to take Havrisik’s place before their Week 18 showdown with the 49ers.

Sean McVay admits Rams’ kicking struggles can impact his play calling

The Rams have missed more FGs than any team since 2015 and Sean McVay admits it can impact his play-calling decisions on 3rd and 4th down

No team has gone through more kicking struggles than the Los Angeles Rams this year. Between Brett Maher and Lucas Havrisik, they’ve missed 11 total field goal attempts, the most by any team in a season since 2015.

Havrisik is just 2-for-6 from 40-49 yards, which is a critical range, especially when it comes to deciding whether the offense might stay on the field on fourth down in hopes of scoring a touchdown instead of settling for three points.

That came into play for the Rams on Thursday night against the Saints. On fourth-and-2 from the Saints’ 28-yard line, McVay settled for a field goal attempt from 47 yards. Havrisik missed it wide right, which would’ve given the Rams a 13-0 lead.

Three plays after that miss, the Saints were in the end zone with a 45-yard touchdown, making it a 10-7 game. McVay admitted Friday that the Rams’ kicking struggles can impact his play calling and decisions on third and fourth down, knowing those field goal attempts aren’t automatic like the were with Greg Zuerlein and Matt Gay.

“It does. It’s something that – I was talking about it and there were some opportunities that you have to be considerate of. All right, are you operating in four down territory? Maybe different than what you had in previous situations,” he said. “So I think you have to continue to monitor the ability to execute at a high level and if not, then maybe you’re saying, hey, we’re operating with a different mode and mindset. And so those are things that we’ll definitely have to identify and especially when every single game matters so much and points are at a premium and you’d like to be able to finish these drives where you’re just hopefully kicking extra points. But it certainly is something that comes into the thought process, especially given the things that you mentioned.”

When the Rams face the Giants on New Year’s Eve, don’t be surprised if McVay is more aggressive on fourth-and-short, keeping the offense on the field instead of settling for a field goal attempt.

He indicated that a change at kicker isn’t in the cards right now, and the team is looking more at the entire kicking operation, from the snap to the hold to the kick. Havrisik’s leash shouldn’t be too long but at the very least, it seems he’ll still be the kicker next weekend in New York.

He needs a strong performance to maintain his job in Los Angeles because with the postseason approaching, the Rams can’t afford to keep missing field goal attempts.