Rookie Sam Sloman wins Rams’ kicker competition

[OldSchool]

The difference as I understand it is that the FA kickers were one year deals while the drafted rookie is cost controlled for a few years. I could be wrong.

Sloman signed a 4 year contract for just over $3 million dollars with just his signing bonus of $76k guaranteed. I'm pretty sure the other two having no NFL tenure signed for what Sloman was making this year along with the other late round rookies and UDFA at $610k. This was not in any way a cost cutting move. If anything Sloman if they keep him for 4 years likely ends up costing them more.

In fact MacGinnis Hajrullah (or however it's spelt) had signed a 3 year $2.28 million contract. That's essensially the same deal as Sloman without the 4th year at a bit over $1 million.

 

[Ram65]

The difference as I understand it is that the FA kickers were one year deals while the drafted rookie is cost controlled for a few years. I could be wrong.

Not much difference in money. Sam's contract is only guaranteed at $75,000.



Every undrafted player signs the same three-year contract, which means all 13 become restricted free agents in Year 4. Their base salaries are $610K, $780K and $895K per season over the next three years.Apr 23, 2020

Contract details show which 2020 undrafted players Eagles ...
www.nbcsports.com › philadelphia › contract-details-2...


The first pick of the sixth round gets a $662,972 salary as part of a four-year, $3.5 million deal. Finally, seventh-round picks secure a salary ranging from $638,424 to $628,873. The first seventh-round pick is paid a $638,424 salary and a four-year, $3.4 million contract.Apr 25, 2020

NFL Draft Salaries: How Much Do 4th-7th Round Picks Make ...
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Sam Sloman Contract Details, Salary Cap Charges, Bonus Money, and Contract History | Over The Cap

Sam Sloman contract and salary cap details, including signing bonus, guaranteed salary, dead money, roster bonuses, and contract history

overthecap.com

Sam Sloman

K

4 yr $3,370,492

 

[majrleaged]

Idk about this. Rookie PKs have a looong history of failure in the NFL. Hope Sloman is one of the exceptions. Definitely thought he’d be practice squad keeper for LT and one of the older guys would win out. Lotta risk involved here. I won’t feel comfortable at end of game down 3 or less — all season long, that’s for sure. Need to stock up on some extra alcohol in the house just in case.

Zuerlein was a rookie kicker that did very well.

 

[leoram]

Sloman signed a 4 year contract for just over $3 million dollars with just his signing bonus of $76k guaranteed. I'm pretty sure the other two having no NFL tenure signed for what Sloman was making this year along with the other late round rookies and UDFA at $610k. This was not in any way a cost cutting move. If anything Sloman if they keep him for 4 years likely ends up costing them more.

In fact MacGinnis Hajrullah (or however it's spelt) had signed a 3 year $2.28 million contract. That's essensially the same deal as Sloman without the 4th year at a bit over $1 million.

Thanks for the correction. I was really hoping the decision had nothing to do with money so this puts my mind at ease a bit. Time will tell if the decision was a good one

 

[oldnotdead]

Both Lirim and MacGinnis were 10-13 with Sloman going 7-13, barely over 50%. God help the Rams if he kicks like that during the season. He had the pressure of trying to compete with two others and he folded IMO. How will he do on game-winning kicks? 53% ain't gonna cut it in the NFL. Greg was better and he lost his job. I thought this was to upgrade the position but right now it looks too much like a huge downgrade. You cannot go by his collegiate percentage, it really doesn't translate as proved by the failure rate of rookie kickers. The smart move would have been to keep Lirim or MacGinnis and allow Sloman to clear waivers which he would have with that terrible TC performance. Look at this way if he kicks like that it costs 18 points, how many losses does that translate to?

Surprised and disappointed absolutely. Who thinks he will improve over this last week? Oh yeah he missed 3 of 6 attempts on Wednesday.

 

[RhodyRams]

Rams will lead the league in 2 pt conversions in 2020/21

 

[oldnotdead]

They will have to.

 

[tklongball]

Both Lirim and MacGinnis were 10-13 with Sloman going 7-13, barely over 50%. God help the Rams if he kicks like that during the season. He had the pressure of trying to compete with two others and he folded IMO. How will he do on game-winning kicks? 53% ain't gonna cut it in the NFL. Greg was better and he lost his job. I thought this was to upgrade the position but right now it looks too much like a huge downgrade. You cannot go by his collegiate percentage, it really doesn't translate as proved by the failure rate of rookie kickers. The smart move would have been to keep Lirim or MacGinnis and allow Sloman to clear waivers which he would have with that terrible TC performance. Look at this way if he kicks like that it costs 18 points, how many losses does that translate to?

Surprised and disappointed absolutely. Who thinks he will improve over this last week? Oh yeah he missed 3 of 6 attempts on Wednesday.

So we can't go by his College career, and we ONLY go by 2 scrimmages, one with the 3rd string holder...Got it.

 

[Ram65]

College career
During his career at Miami, Sloman completed 49 of his 62 field goal attempts for 79%. On extra point attempts, he made 112-for-115 for 97.4%. During his senior year in 2019, he made 86.7% of his field goal attempts and went 11-for-14 from beyond 40 yards.
College: Miami (OH)
NFL Draft: 2020 / Round: 7 / Pick: 248
High school: Pace Academy; (Atlanta, Georgia)

Sam Sloman - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Sam_Sloman

 

[jrry32]

Both Lirim and MacGinnis were 10-13 with Sloman going 7-13, barely over 50%. God help the Rams if he kicks like that during the season. He had the pressure of trying to compete with two others and he folded IMO. How will he do on game-winning kicks? 53% ain't gonna cut it in the NFL. Greg was better and he lost his job. I thought this was to upgrade the position but right now it looks too much like a huge downgrade. You cannot go by his collegiate percentage, it really doesn't translate as proved by the failure rate of rookie kickers. The smart move would have been to keep Lirim or MacGinnis and allow Sloman to clear waivers which he would have with that terrible TC performance. Look at this way if he kicks like that it costs 18 points, how many losses does that translate to?

Surprised and disappointed absolutely. Who thinks he will improve over this last week? Oh yeah he missed 3 of 6 attempts on Wednesday.

Our coaches were at every single practice. They got to see all three kickers every day. You and I didn't. They picked Sloman. Do you think McVay doesn't want to win? Something tells me Sloman didn't have such a terrible TC performance if he was the pick. Something tells me he didn't fold if he was the pick. The reality of this situation is that neither Lirim nor MacGinnis were good enough to make a NFL roster out of college. Neither guy has kicked in the NFL. The staff saw them up close and picked Sloman. Sloman is a rookie who had a great 2019 season in college (under tougher conditions than he'll see in the NFL). Why don't we wait and see how he does before writing him off?

Some of y'all act like we're still watching a team coached by Scott Linehan. This coaching staff has earned the benefit of the doubt. Sean McVay has earned the benefit of the doubt. Let's wait and see what happens. If Sloman isn't up to the job, they'll replace him. That's how it goes. But the staff clearly feels he's the best option of the three right now.

 

[JackKirbyFan]

Nope. From Wikipedia:

On August 17, 2020, the CFL announced that the 2020 season had been cancelled, citing the league's inability to obtain appropriate loans and subsidies from the federal government in order to cover operating costs and compensate for playing behind closed doors without paid ticketholders.

Too bad. I enjoy watching the CFL. After all Rams' all time great QB Dieter Brock came from the CFL. BTW--I really don't think Brock was that bad of a QB. He certainly could throw bullets. However, didn't the Rams draft an OLineman from Queens University back in the 1980s. He turned out to be a bust. I forget his name, though. Sure hope we see some semblance of an NFL season, this year.
Anyway--Go Rams--Let's kick some Cowboy butt. Happy Labor Day to all.

 

[Rams4life]

Too bad. I enjoy watching the CFL. After all Rams' all time great QB Dieter Brock came from the CFL. BTW--I really don't think Brock was that bad of a QB. He certainly could throw bullets. However, didn't the Rams draft an OLineman from Queens University back in the 1980s. He turned out to be a bust. I forget his name, though. Sure hope we see some semblance of an NFL season, this year.
Anyway--Go Rams--Let's kick some Cowboy butt. Happy Labor Day to all.

Mike Schad

 

[oldnotdead]

Something smells wrong here. Sloman didn't beat out the other kickers with his magnificent 53% when the other two were 77%. I've been stewing on this all night not wanting to accept the fact that the fix was in. I think Sloman was a Kroenke pick, i.e. the son of a friend, or some such thing. When it was obvious he wasn't going to make the team he told Snead and McVay this kid is the kicker. For him to miss that many there have to be issues with his mechanics. There is no way Snead or McVay would do this and sabotage their team, but Kroenke sure would. It wouldn't surprise me if he's done this with his team in the UK.

The smart thing would have been to keep Lirim or Mac and sign Sloman to the PS as a developmental player. But to sign a kicker who went 53% in TC just isn't done unless there is big time pressure from the owner. The other players have to be just as surprised as all of us. DaSilva tried to make the lame excuse that he made the two simulated game-winning kicks so that validated his "winning the spot". What he fails to mention is that so did the other two kickers which is typical of DaSilva's half-ass reporting.

This could get ugly because the poor kid has to know he didn't beat out the other two. What kind of pressure will that put on him? Stop and think about it. For a rookie kicker, 70% would be hugely successful. But at this level, a vet kicker should be above 80%. That's why most teams don't play rookie kickers if they have any choice.

Last year Greg was about 72% on his FGs and it got him fired. He tried 31 FGs so if that remains constant this year for Sloman he's going to be lining up for between 30 - 35 FG attempts. If he attempts 30 FG he has to make 21 to be at 70%. If Sloman goes 60% on 30 attempts that's simply making a paltry 18 FG. How many games does that cost them? IMO this means the Rams need to outscore everyone by a huge percentage to make any of Sloman's eventual misses inconsequential.

All of a sudden the weakest part of the team isn't the O-line it's the kicker. Stop and remember that the Rams only made the SB because of a reliable kicker. If Sloman can't kick above 70% this team may not take the division despite having a true contending roster everywhere except at kicker.

 

[oldnotdead]

Oh BTW Zuerlein was drafted in 2012 but didn't play until 2013. I think that was the original plan they were going to follow with Sloman. So there can only be one reason they didn't when they had two quality veteran kickers in camp.

 

[CGI_Ram]

There was more than a camps’ worth of data for the Rams to evaluate Sloman.



View: https://youtu.be/jKRm58IcOP0

Zuerlein hit 74% as a rookie/FT kicker. Coaches look at the whole picture... thank god we had coaches “with vision“ when selecting GZ.

 

[CGI_Ram]

Sloman didn't beat out the other kickers with his magnificent 53% when the other two were 77%.

Unless I am missing something, you seem to be drawing a lot of conclusions based on written reports from camp, and a pair of scrimmages.

Am I misreading that?

Or, was that your expectation to begin with... It’s a camp battle and all data for the decision comes from that?

 

[jrry32]

Something smells wrong here. Sloman didn't beat out the other kickers with his magnificent 53% when the other two were 77%. I've been stewing on this all night not wanting to accept the fact that the fix was in. I think Sloman was a Kroenke pick, i.e. the son of a friend, or some such thing. When it was obvious he wasn't going to make the team he told Snead and McVay this kid is the kicker. For him to miss that many there have to be issues with his mechanics. There is no way Snead or McVay would do this and sabotage their team, but Kroenke sure would. It wouldn't surprise me if he's done this with his team in the UK.

Duuuuuuude. Sloman is not a son of Kroenke's friend. This wasn't a Kroenke pick. Kroenke isn't trying to sabotage his own team. You're making assumptions with very little information. You don't know what Sloman's percentage was. You don't know what the other kickers' percentages were. You weren't at the practices watching and logging every kick each guy tried. There's no conspiracy here. Relax.

Oh BTW Zuerlein was drafted in 2012 but didn't play until 2013. I think that was the original plan they were going to follow with Sloman. So there can only be one reason they didn't when they had two quality veteran kickers in camp.

Zuerlein started his entire rookie year.

 

[kurtfaulk]

Oh BTW Zuerlein was drafted in 2012 but didn't play until 2013. I think that was the original plan they were going to follow with Sloman. So there can only be one reason they didn't when they had two quality veteran kickers in camp.

are you off your meds? he was locked in as the starting kicker the second they drafted him in 2012.

.

 

[tempests]

I felt more comfortable with Zuerlein than any Rams kicker since....ever, really.

It's going to be a process. Just hope the Rams RZ offense can convert TDs and not leave the outcome of a game up to our rookie kicker.

 

[Faceplant]

I felt more comfortable with Zuerlein than any Rams kicker since....ever, really.

It's going to be a process. Just hope the Rams RZ offense can convert TDs and not leave the outcome of a game up to our rookie kicker.

Jeff Wilkins would like a word...