The Los Angeles Rams have placed kicker Blake Grupe on injured reserve after head coach Sean McVay confirmed that he tore his ACL in Sunday’s 18-16 Week 6 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Grupe, who signed with the team only last week, is done for the season after playing exactly one game for Los Angeles, and the Rams now have no kicker on the active roster heading into a Week 7 trip to Las Vegas.
The timing is brutal for a team that sits at 2-4 and has already moved on from one kicker this month. Los Angeles waived Harrison Mevis on October 13 after a Monday Night Football loss to the Buffalo Bills in which he missed a 50-yard attempt and had a potential game-winning 48-yarder blocked. Grupe, 27, was supposed to be the fix. Instead, the Rams are searching for another kicker for the second time in two weeks.
How Grupe Went Down
Grupe made his mark quickly. He connected on a 44-yard field goal in the opening quarter, the only attempt of his Rams career, then ran downfield to cover the ensuing kickoff. Cardinals returner Devin Duvernay brought it back 40 yards, and Grupe’s attempt to make the tackle left him with a right knee injury. He was evaluated in the medical tent, taken to the locker room and ruled out. After the game he was seen on crutches with a large brace on his leg.
Punter Ethan Evans handled kicking duties the rest of the way and went 1-for-1 on his lone extra point attempt. McVay had said after the Buffalo game that the PAT and field goal unit was "not even close to good enough" and that it cost the team that game.
Grupe arrived in Los Angeles off the Jets’ practice squad. He entered the league as an undrafted free agent with the Saints in 2023 and spent his first two-plus seasons in New Orleans before being released in late November 2025. He finished that season with the Colts, where he made all 11 of his field goal attempts in five games, including a 60-yarder. Across his career he has made 86 of 105 field goal attempts.
Who Replaces Him
The Rams are moving quickly. Veteran kickers Brandon McManus and Matt Prater are set to work out for the team this week, according to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo. McManus, 35, spent the last two seasons with the Green Bay Packers, making 44 of 51 field goals (86.3%) over 25 games. Prater, 42, spent 2025 with the Buffalo Bills and went 18 for 20 on field goals, and he is 83.8% for his career across 19 seasons. Mevis, waived days ago, is a theoretical option, though the team just decided to move on from him.
What It Means for Rams vs. Raiders Betting
Despite the kicker chaos and the 2-4 record, the Rams opened as 5.5-point road favorites over the 3-3 Raiders for Sunday’s game in Las Vegas, according to BetMGM. The moneyline is Rams -235 and Raiders +200, with the total at 47 (over -110, under -108). ESPN’s Week 7 odds board shows the same 5.5-point spread with a total of 46.5, unchanged from its opener. Los Angeles is a favorite again despite a 2-4 mark against the spread this season.
The kicking situation matters most in a game priced this tightly. A 5.5-point spread sits right next to the key number of six, so a missed or made field goal can swing a result on either side of it. If the Rams land a veteran like McManus or Prater, they at least get a kicker with a long track record. If the job goes to someone signed midweek with little time to build timing with the holder and long snapper, the field goal unit becomes a real variable for anyone laying the points.
The total is worth watching too. A team that cannot count on three points when drives stall may go for it on fourth down more often, and drives that end without points can drag a game toward the under. Los Angeles has also lost wide receiver Davante Adams to a hamstring injury expected to sideline him six to 10 weeks, which removes another scoring source from an offense that needs every point it can find. Line movement this week will show how the market weighs those losses against the Raiders’ own flaws.
Props tied to the Rams’ kicker, such as made field goals or kicking points, are unlikely to carry firm numbers until the team announces who it is signing, so any posted line before then deserves caution. Kickoff in Las Vegas is set for Sunday, October 25.
