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Johnny Hekker knows he has to earn punting job over Corey Bojorquez
Cameron DaSilva
August 10, 2021 2:16 pm PT
Johnny Hekker has been the Rams’ punter for the last nine years, facing almost no competition for the job throughout his tenure with the team. He’s led the league in yards twice and average yards per punt once, never missing a game in his entire career.
As a four-time All-Pro, Hekker has established himself as one of the best punters in football. But the Rams threw some competition his way this offseason by signing Corey Bojorquez as a free agent – a move they excitedly announced on social media.
Bojorquez wasn’t just a camp leg signed to give Hekker a break in practice. The Rams already had Brandon Wright for that. Bojorquez was seemingly a legitimate threat, and Hekker won’t even say otherwise.
He’s treating every day like a battle with Bojorquez, who he considers “insanely talented.” Hekker still sees this as an open competition for the punting job in L.A.
“Yeah, of course. I mean every day is a competition. If you’re not competing during training camp, you’re not in the right headspace and you’re not going to progress and be your best when September rolls around,” Hekker said. “Corey’s a very, very talented punter. He led the NFL in yards per punt last season. He’s been just building on that foundation that he had last season. He’s incredible. He’s pushed me every day to be better. Watching his technique and his leg talent just really makes me want to refine mine and make sure that I’m being the best that I can be because at the end of the day, the reality is teams only carry one. So, I think whichever one of us is going to be punting for the Rams, the other guy’s going to get picked up very shortly thereafter.”
Hekker is a leader and a captain, so he knows the right things to say when posed a question like this. But as he mentioned, Bojorquez led the league in yards per punt last year, so he’s got some real leg talent to push Hekker.
As a follow-up question, Hekker was asked if he’s confident the Rams will keep him over Bojorquez, and in true veteran fashion, he was modest in his response, once again complimenting his competitor.
“I’m confident that tomorrow I’m going to work hard. Just going to enjoy the process. One of my mindsets going into this training camp has just been, be happy for Corey and what he’s doing. He’s insanely talented. But in the same breath, I just have to go out there and focus and run my race and do what I know I can do every day. And, that’s work hard, be a light, have fun and let the rest take care of itself. I think we got great coaches and staff that are totally capable of making that decision and I’m glad I don’t have to make it.”
If the Rams do wind up cutting Hekker, which still seems unlikely, they will save $3.75 million in cap space. Bojorquez’s contract comes with a base salary of $920,000 and a roster bonus of $100,000, putting his cap hit at $1.02 million – not exactly pennies.
That will likely be taken into account, but by no means will it be the deciding factor in this competition.
