THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The Rams on Monday waived kicker Lucas Havrisik, a day after he missed both his of extra point attempts in L.A.'s 26-25 road win over the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium.
Havrisik will be replaced by Brett Maher, whom head coach Sean McVay said the team will be bringing back.
"I think getting into the playoffs definitely changes a little bit of the dialogue in regards to what we know we have coming down the pipe, and so wanted to get somebody in here that had some experience," McVay said during a video conference with reporters Monday. "We'll end up bringing Brett Maher back. He's a guy that has had experience. I think when you look at some of the earlier situations he was in, we asked him to attempt a lot of long field goals. He was fairly consistent when you're talking about some of those field goals from under 50 (yards) and in, and so we'll get him back in here and we'll get him going."
Havrisik had held the Rams' kicking job since Week 9, making 15 of 20 field goal attempts and 19 of 22 extra point attempts during that 9-game span. Four of those five missed field goals were from 40-49 yards.
Earlier this month, Los Angeles signed veteran Mason Crosby to its practice squad to compete with Maher ahead of their Week 14 road game against the Ravens. Havrisik responded by converting all three of his field goal attempts in that game – including the go-ahead one to send it to overtime – and both of his extra point attempts in the Rams' 37-31 overtime loss.
"You never know what's going to happen with Lucas," McVay said. "When I talked to him, he is guy that you do have confidence in, he has a lot of ability. You look at some of the background of these kickers, and it sometimes takes a little bit to be able to settle in and play as consistent as you want. There's been a lot of successful guys that have navigated through some early struggles or early challenges and had great careers."
Maher made 17 of 23 field goal attempts and 12 of 13 extra point attempts in his first stint with the Rams this season, which was the first seven games. Prior to being released, his 17 made field goals were tied with the Texans' Ka'imi Fairbairn and the Eagles' Jake Elliott for most in the NFL through the first seven weeks of the 2023 season.
Five of Maher's six missed field goals were misses; one was blocked. Four of those misses came from 50-plus yards, two from 40-49 yards.
"There's options out there, and then there's guys that have kind of had some familiarity with it, and so there's not a perfect scenario," McVay said, when asked if the team looked at any other kickers besides Maher and how it arrived at bringing him back. "And so there's not a perfect scenario, but I think when you look at just the landscape, some of the options, this is what we felt like was going to be the best opportunity to move forward the way we want to, so that's how we settled on Brett."
The Rams take on the 49ers on Sunday at 1:25 p.m. pacific time (FOX) at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara.
