<![CDATA[The one area the Rams were able to crow about last season was their special teams. They managed to send punter Johnny Hekker to the Pro Bowl after he had one of the greatest seasons ever at his position. Luckily he's not a free agent this off-season but their other weapon Greg "the leg" Zuerlein is a free agent and while he's become a polarizing player among fans he's actually been their best offensive weapon over the last several years.
Look, the Rams' offense was dead last in yards per play coming in just over four yards and thus they didn't score a whole lot. The one guy that's kept them in games was Zuerlein. Last season he only missed three field goals going 19/22 (86.4%) and he made all 23 of his extra point attempts.
That's not nothing considering how hard pressed for points the rest of the team was. The reason he's polarizing however, is the fact that despite his talent, he had a few shaky seasons.
His rookie season he made 74.2 % of his field goals and he attempted the most field goals from beyond 50 yards, in one game even making two field goals from 58 yards or more, and made the longest field goal in franchise history at 61 yards.
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Unfortunately, he’s also had a lot of missed kicks during that span his lowest point was last year where he made only 66.7% which is pretty bad. His career average is 79.4% which doesn’t put him in the same realm as a Stephen Gostkowski or Justin Tucker but his contributions are absolutely vital to a Rams team that is still looking for answers on offense.
It’s easy to take him for granted especially with so many kickers that seem to be available all the time but what other kicker on the market has made two field goals of 60 or more yards? Just one and that’s Sebastian Janikowski who doesn’t seem to be leaving the Raiders anytime soon plus he probably doesn’t have that many years left.
The point is, his accuracy has been problematic at times but he’s been the most consistent offensive weapon the Rams have had and while he hasn’t exactly been the dependable guy Jeff Wilkins was back in the day he’s only 29 and has many years to get there plus his power hasn’t diminished one bit.
Greg “the Leg” Zuerlein is the most important free agent the Rams have to retain and since he’s a kicker they won’t exactly have to break the bank to do it.
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