Rams punter Corey Bojorquez homes in on roster spot
[
www.ocregister.com]
THOUSAND OAKS — Corey Bojorquez came up through Mayfair High School in Lakewood and Cerritos College in Norwalk, and his family lives in Bellflower, punting distance from SoFi Stadium.
So winning a spot on the Rams’ roster would be ideal.
“My family could come to more games,” said Bojorquez (pronounced buh-hor-kez).
That’s a possibility. Bojorquez has been booming left-footed punts in his first Rams training camp. The Rams could decide to keep him on a one-year, $1.02 million contract, and cut loose Johnny Hekker before the third year of a five-year, $18.8 million contract, the NFL’s biggest at the position.
But Bojorquez won’t be disconsolate even if the Rams decide to stick with Hekker.
He’s confident he’ll land a job somewhere else, and that he’ll be an improved punter as a result of his brief homecoming.
Last April, the Buffalo Bills declined to re-sign Bojorquez despite a league-best 50.8-yard punting average in 2020, and the Rams offered a cozy landing spot.
“This was an opportunity here for me to, at the very least, learn from somebody who has done it exceptionally well for going into his 10th year,” Bojorquez, 24, said of Hekker, 31, in an interview after practice Tuesday. “I knew coming here would at the least make me a better punter if I end up somewhere else. A win-win situation.”
He thinks he has learned from Hekker, who is coming off a career-low 45.6-yard average last season but had a lot to teach his young teammate about directional punting and stopping the ball close to the goal line.
“(I’ve been) learning different kinds of punts that I’ve never tried before, that he does,” Bojorquez said.
He said he has tried to focus on that part of why he signed with the Rams, and not about the possibility of displacing a four-time All-Pro.
“I think when guys start thinking, ‘How am I doing compared to this guy?’ it gets into their head a little too much,” Bojorquez said. “I just try to focus on ‘Am I getting better?’ And I think I have been.”
Rams coaches have said nothing to indicate Hekker won’t be their punter.
But Hekker has said since spring workouts in June that he considers himself to be in competition with Bojorquez.
“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 earlier this month. “Corey’s a very, very talented punter.
“At the end of the day, the reality is that teams only carry one (punter), so I think whichever one of us is going to be punting for the Rams, the other one is going to get picked up very shortly thereafter.”
A complicating factor in the competition came up Saturday when Hekker and Bojorquez were both placed on the NFL’s COVID-19 reserve list after Hekker tested positive and Bojorquez was identified as a close contact, according to Coach Sean McVay.
Kicker Matt Gay stepped in as punter during the Rams’ 17-16 preseason loss to the Las Vegas Raiders.
Bojorquez was activated Tuesday. Hekker remained on the COVID-19 list.
The answer to which of them will end up on the season-opening roster might not come until next Tuesday, when NFL teams must trim their rosters to 53.
It could be a nervous time for Bojorquez. But he’s used to rapid changes. He was a high school soccer midfielder, baseball pitcher and football kicker-punter who committed to punting in his senior year at Mayfair, then parlayed an All-America season at Cerritos College into two seasons at New Mexico, ranking fourth in the nation with a 47.3-yard punting average as a senior.
Signed by the New England Patriots as an undrafted rookie, Bojorquez thought he’d made their practice squad, but the Bills claimed him off waivers.
“The next thing I’m on a flight to Buffalo,” he said. “You kind of get used to not being too set.”
