The Los Angeles Rams finally have a Kicker. Prior to this signing, they didn't have a Kicker after waiving thier undrafted Kicker a few days ago. So who is Brett Maher?
Brett Maher was first signed by the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent in 2013. He played college football at Nebraska. Maher has been playing in between the NFL and CFL since.
Over the years, he has been a member of the New York Jets, Dallas Cowboys, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Ottawa Redblacks, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Cleveland Browns, Washington Commanders, Houston Texans, Arizona Cardinals, and Denver Broncos. A lot of teams in 10 years.
So is Maher good? Well, he's not bad and Rams need a Kicker. Maher is a career 81% field goal kicker in the NFL. He is also 95.5% on extra point attempts. According to Statmuse, the NFL average for Field Goals made percentage is around 74% so at least he is above average. He is currently 33 years old.
In 2022, he converted all four field goals against the Minnesota Vikings, three of which were 50 yards or longer, including a 60-yard field goal that he had to make twice, because of a play review by the officiating crew. Pretty good. Maher became the first kicker in NFL history to convert four field goals from 60 or more yards. Maher finished the season 29-of-32 on field goal attempts and 9-for-11 on 50+ yard field goals. He also set the franchise record for most field goals made over 50 yards in a season. Not bad.
Maher's performance in 2022-2023 season was a major improvement over his previous season, when he made 29 of 32 field goal attempts (90.6%) and 9 of 11 extra point attempts (81.8%).
However, he received major criticism after he missed four of five extra point attempts during the Cowboys' 2022-2023 Wild Card Game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was the most missed extra points in a game (regular season or playoffs) since extra points were first tracked in 1932. He and the Cowboys still won that game by the way.
This led many fans believe Maher is a horrible Kicker which is not true at all. Although he struggled in the 2022-2023 postseason, Maher had one of the best kicking regular seasons in franchise history, by making 29-of-32 field goals (90.6%), with 2 misses coming from 59 yards attempts and was nine of 11 (82%) from 50+ yards. He made 50-of-53 extra points attempts, with two of them being blocked. He also led the league with 78 touchback kickoffs and set the Cowboys single-season kicking records with 137 points scored and 9 field goals made of 50-plus yards. Insane statistics.
This is not a bad signing at all while many fans believe it is. He had one bad postseason compared to a nice career overall. Rams finally have thier Kicker.
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