HOUSAND OAKS — Following Sunday’s victory over the Cleveland Browns, Rams head coach Sean McVay mentioned, unprompted, that the team would look to address its kicking situation. Kicker Lucas Havrisik had missed from 43 yards in the second quarter, marking his third missed field goal in four weeks, not to mention a missed point-after attempt against the Arizona Cardinals.
On Wednesday, the Rams made their move, signing veteran kicker Mason Crosby to their practice squad. Crosby will be a candidate to be promoted for Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens, head coach Sean McVay said, but Havrisik will remain with the Rams.
“It’s a unique opportunity where you still end up having Lucas; feel like he’s a guy that we want to be able to continue to work with,” McVay said. “But to have a veteran that has his experience, some of the success, some of the crunch time experience that he’s had … those are things that we wanted to be able to explore.”
Crosby, 39, spent the first 16 years of his career with the Green Bay Packers. With a career mark of 81.4% on field goals, Crosby made 25 of 29 attempts in 2022, going 1 for 4 from beyond 50 yards. He also connected on 37 of 39 PATs.
But the Packers drafted Auburn’s Anders Carlson in the sixth round in this year’s NFL draft and opted to allow Crosby to leave the team in free agency. He remained unsigned until the Rams called him on Tuesday It’s weird being in Green Bay as long as I have,” Crosby said. “Getting all the new gear and the new helmet and all those things, it felt like kind of being a rookie again.”
The Rams signed Havrisik with the hope that he would blossom with his first opportunity on an active NFL roster. He has made just 70% of his field goal attempts, but he will get the chance to learn from Crosby, who is 11th all-time in career points scored in NFL history.
