Rams' Ethan Evans Reflects on Preseason Performance

Los Angeles Rams rookie punter Ethan Evans finished the preseason with the NFL's third-most average yards per punt.

The Los Angeles Rams' offense, defense, and special teams return coverage failed to meet expectations in all three of their preseason games.

Although an offense never wants to see their punter trot onto the field, rookie Ethan Evans has had to do so quite a bit. However, he's been nothing short of excellent.

The offense's struggles forced Evans to punt more than any other team (19), as he led the league in yards (1,017) and was third in average (53.5 yards). The 22-year-old also logged four punts of at least 60 yards, with his best traveling for 65.

Evans reflected on his preseason performance after Monday's practice.

"I feel like I've done pretty well, but I definitely need to back down on some of the long balls and put a little more hang time on them," Evans told reporters. "It was awesome getting to play in preseason games."

Evans went to Wingate University, which is a Division II school. He explained how "cool" it was going from "1,800 people" watching his games to "62,000." Despite defying the odds of being recognized by an NFL team, Evans admitted that he has a lot more work to do.

"After the preseason games, me and (Rams special teams coordinator Chase) Blackburn discussed that we're definitely going to work harder on directional kicks, but we're still going to keep the 60-yarders in the back pocket just in case," Evans said.

Evans made his impact on the special teams room during the preseason opener and revealed his mindset during that memorable day.

"When I walked into SoFi Stadium, I was like 'wow...we're here now,'" Evans said. "(I just wanted to) stay calm, focus on one or two things at a time, not get too flustered in the head and just swing easy to hit a good ball."

Evans explained that his biggest takeaway from the preseason was to "stay smooth, don't try to kill (the ball) and have faith" in his teammates. He believes those are the keys for him to succeed during his rookie campaign.

"When I'm out there just having a blast and not really thinking about too much, that's when I do my best," Evans said. "My biggest thing is to be a good teammate as well—celebrating with the guys, going down with my coverage unit and high-fiving them. Punting is my first job, but being a better teammate is my second."