After struggling in Week 7, Brett Maher now finds himself on the lookout for a new opportunity. The veteran kicker was released by the Rams on Tuesday, per a team announcement.
Maher missed a pair of field goals, along with an extra point, in the Rams’ 24-17 loss to the Steelers on Sunday. That drew understandable criticism from head coach Sean McVay, and led to questions about whether or not a change at the position would be deemed necessary. Today’s move confirms Los Angeles’ stance on that front.
The 33-year-old had his second Cowboys stint end in disappointing fashion in last year’s postseason. Maher had delivered a strong performance in the regular season, but he missed four extra point attempts in the wild-card round and another in the divisional round. To no surprise, Dallas looked elsewhere for a replacement, which left Maher in search of a new home.
That initially sent him to Denver in a reunion with head coach Sean Payton. Maher spent the 2021 season with the Saints in Payton’s final year in New Orleans. By the time the season started, though, the Broncos had acquired another Payton-era Saints alum (Wil Lutz) to handle kicking duties. The latter has missed only one field goal and one extra point to date, so Denver likely does not regret that decision.
Maher had been busy during his brief Rams stint. His 23 field goal attempts through seven weeks (along with 17 makes) lead the NFL. However, that 74% success rate is the second-lowest of his career, and a recurrence of his XP issues will likely make it difficult to find another NFL gig in the near future. With respect to his replacement, the Rams appear to have a successor in mind.
Los Angeles plans to sign Lucas Havrisik off the Browns’ practice squad, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. The 24-year-old initially joined the league with the Colts last season, but after a long stretch as a free agent, he joined Cleveland’s taxi squad this summer. The Browns ran into kicking trouble in the preseason, which led to Cade York‘s departure. He was replaced by Dustin Hopkins, who has been nearly perfect to start the year. Now. Cleveland will lose its backup plan at the kicking spot while the Rams will give Havrisik his first opportunity in regular season NFL action.
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