WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. – Rams head coach Sean McVay on Friday announced Harrison Mevis will be the team's kicker for Sunday's Week 10 game against the 49ers at Levi's Stadium (1:25 p.m. pacific time, FOX).
McVay also confirmed that Jake McQuaide will be the team's long snapper on Sunday.
"There's a lot of layers to it," McVay said prior to Friday's practice, when asked what led him to make the decision to start Mevis instead of incumbent Joshua Karty. "I still do have a lot of confidence in Josh Karty, he's not going anywhere. But based on just some of the things that we tried to evaluate throughout the course of the week, those guys both did a really good job. I was really pleased and really impressed and proud of how Josh handled himself this week. Think he's got a really bright future. I think he's done a lot of really good things for us, but all the things that went into it in terms of just, ultimately, in its simplest form, who I think gives us the best chance to have successful outcomes, particularly in that operation, with the given factors on Sunday against the Niners."
The Rams signed Mevis to their practice squad on Tuesday after working him out earlier this week to compete with Karty for the job. Originally entering the NFL as an undrafted free agent out of Missouri in 2024 prior to signing with the Panthers' practice squad, Mevis played for the UFL's Birmingham Stallions earlier this year, where he converted 21 of his 23 field goal attempts (91.3%) with a long of 56 yards; both misses came from over 50 yards.
Through Week 9, Karty had made 10 of 15 field goal attempts (66.7%) and 23 of 26 extra point attempts, though McVay and special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn have said the miscues in that operation weren't solely on him.
"When we sit down and talk to Josh, there's really three possible scenarios," McVay said, when asked if the evaluation of the kicker position will be a continuous one. "We'll sit down on Monday and we'll say, 'we're going to continue to go with Mevis and he'll work and continue to get better on his own, we'll go back to him, or we'll continuously have this competition.' So what I can't predict is the future, but I do think that this is going to be the best thing for this game. But feel like we've got two good kickers on our team."
Sunday marks the first time Mevis will kick in an NFL game.
"I think he's handled himself well. He's kicked in a lot of big games," McVay said. "You go back to his career in Missouri, and there's always those factors that come into it, but I think at the end of the day, you have to have the clarity and the courage to be able to make the decisions that you think are best. And this is what we think is the best way to be able to move forward, and I think our team has handled the preparation the right way."
McVay said fixing the field goal operation is something they're "continuously trying to be able get our hands wrapped around," and that "we've talked about this probably more than anything that I've ever had to talk about since I've been the head coach of the Rams."
He praised the way both Karty and Ward have handled this, and also emphasized that "what I'm not going to do is pigeonhole myself in anything that's other than this week."
"I think we always talk about being totally and completely present, taking things one day at a time, controlling what we can, and let's not get too far ahead of ourselves," McVay said. "Let's have a good Friday, good Saturday, and then be ready to go. But those guys, I expect them to do well as it relates to Jake and Mevis in their roles on Sunday against an excellent opponent."
