By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Western Alamance alum Joshua Karty was selected by the Los Angeles Rams in the sixth round of the NFL Draft, which wrapped up Saturday in Detroit.
Karty, a record-setting kicker for Stanford, was the 209th player selected overall.
Karty, 22, told reporters after his selection Saturday that he identified the Rams during the draft process as one of his preferred teams.
Later, the Rams posted a message from Karty on social media: “So excited to be a Ram and cannot wait to get ready to work,” he said.
Karty becomes the first Stanford kicker drafted since Ken Naber was selected by the New England Patriots in the eighth round of the 1981 NFL Draft
In February, Karty took part in a pro training session in Phoenix and later during the winter he was at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. In mid-March, Stanford reported about 20 NFL teams had representatives for Karty’s pro day workout on campus.
In this year’s draft, the first kicker selected was Will Reichard of Alabama by the Minnesota Vikings in the sixth round. Reichard was taken six spots before Karty.
Karty made 23 of 27 attempts on field goals for Stanford in 2023. He received various All-American recognitions and was an All-Pac-12 Conference first-team selection for the second year in a row.
The Rams were the market for a kicker because the team missed an NFL-high 16 kicks last season.
“The goal is to make the league and hopefully play at the (Carolina) Panthers someday and a bunch of my family and friends be able to come out to that,” Karty said in December.
That won’t happen this year because the Panthers and Rams won’t meet in 2024.
