There are a lot of position battles that will need to be sorted out this summer in training camp, one of which is at kicker. It’s not a marquee competition like inside linebacker and guard will be, but it’s an important one after the departure of Greg Zuerlein.
The Rams currently have three kickers on the roster, two of which hailed from other football leagues, and another who was a seventh-round pick. Lirim Hajrullahu was signed by the Rams out of the CFL, and he’ll be competing against former XFL kicker Austin MacGinnis and rookie Sam Sloman out of Miami (Ohio).
Hajrullahu was a prolific kicker in the CFL and this week, he showed off his leg strength by drilling field goals from 75 and 77 yards out.
Hajrullahu did acknowledge that there was some wind (5 mph), but that’s merely a breeze and calmer than most NFL games played in outdoor stadiums. Hajrullahu clearly has a strong leg and his career-long is 56 yards, but he’s also accurate.
In his CFL career, he made 83.3% of his field goal attempts across six seasons, including a career-best season in 2016 when he made 88.1%. And from 50-plus yards, Hajrullahu was 19-for-23 in his career, making his last 10 attempts since 2018.
All that’s well and good, but his spot on the team will come down to beating out MacGinnis and Sloman in camp where the coaches will be watching.
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