When starting a new job, some employees are broken in slowly. They’re given a chance to learn the ropes and get to know their co-workers before the heavy lifting begins.
Then’s there’s a guy like Ramiz Ahmed, who barely had a chance to get his Birmingham Stallions ID badge before he was put front row and center.
“In the NFL, you’re being flown in for a workout and you’ll compete with generally a couple of guys, usually,” Ahmed said on Wednesday. “And then if they have room and the stars align, and you kick well and put your best foot forward, then they’ll sign you up.
“But here (in the United Football League), they have to kind of get someone in quick, so they’ve got to be pretty sure about the guy. And so (the Stallions) called me, which I’m very thankful for.”
The new kicker fit right in immediately – better than anyone could’ve expected. He booted four field goals in Birmingham’s 20-18 victory over DC last Saturday, including the game-winner in the contest’s 11th hour.
“We had a lot of great individual efforts (against DC), obviously none more than our kicker,” Birmingham coach Skip Holtz said. “The job that he was able to do, especially as pretty much a rent-a-kicker for the week. Chris Blewitt had had an injury and the rules allow you to bring a kicker in for a week and then make a decision on if you want to keep them or not. And when we got back after the game, we found out Chris had a substantial injury that’s going to keep him out six to eight weeks.
“So, we went ahead and made the transition to make him our permanent kicker. It was just kind of a trial this weekend, but I thought he did excellent. Let’s hope he can continue to kick them as well as we go through the rest of the season.”
Ahmed’s kicks covered 46, 32, 27 and 46 yards, the final one flipping an 18-17 deficit into a 20-18 edge with just :04 showing on the game clock.
While new to the Stallions, the 28-year-old Ahmed has been sidewinding footballs for quite a while.
The Las Vegas native transitioned from association football to American football during his sophomore season at Bishop Gorman High School, and wound up kicking again at the University of Nevada-Reno in 2017, walking on to the football team and used mostly for kickoff duty.
“I didn’t get to kick too many field goals,” Ahmed said. “They had a three year-starter and their special teams coordinator, who I’m good buddies with now, he was like, ‘Listen, we’ve got a three-year starter who’s been solid for us, so field goal kicking isn’t open.’ They really looked at me for kickoffs, and they started me in the first game that I was eligible for at kickoffs and and it was cool. I wish I could have kicked field goals, but that first year I was a little naive.”
He did finally get his chance, and although he says there are some kicks “I wish I had back,” he caught the eye of NFL scouts.
Ahmed competed for the placekicker job with the Chicago Bears in 2020, but failed to make the active roster.
Two years later he was with the Pittsburgh Maulers of the USFL and nailed a 61-yard field goal – the longest in league history.
He then moved on to the Green Bay Packers and saw some action as a kickoff specialist, but was released in January, 2023.
Ahmed was out of pro football for 15 months before landing in Birmingham.
“I got injured at the end of my stint with the Packers,” he said. “And so, when I was released, I just had one focus in mind and that was to get healthy and get myself kicking back at the level that I know I can kick at. And so whether or not I get an opportunity again, or if my career’s done … I just didn’t feel that I needed to think about that. I just kind of put it on the backburner.
“I was mainly focused on just getting healthy.”
He did just that, and then the UFL came calling.
“(Birmingham special teams coach) Chris Boniol, who I have great respect for, and (Stallions GM) Zach Potter got together with a number of players,” Holtz explained. “There were kickers that we felt had the talent and abilities to do it, and then we started looking at players to see who was interested in doing it and who was available to do it.
“At that point, you’ve got to find availability and you’ve got to find the guy that you really feel has the talent to do it. And I know that they were really excited about Ramiz, and I think he came in and did an absolutely fantastic job.”
Ahmed’s next chance to impress his new employers comes on Saturday night at Rice Stadium when the Stallions (4-0) play the Houston Roughnecks (1-3) at 6 p.m. CDT on FOX.
“When I got picked up by the Packers, it was a similar situation,” Ahmed said. “I was picked up and our game was, I think, on either Friday or Saturday, and so I had two kicking sessions very much like when I got picked up by the Stallions and next thing you know, I’m kicking in the game.
“You’ve just got to go out and perform. I think it’s just something that you’ve got to be ready for.”