The Vikings drafted a kicker. What could possibly go wrong?

Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said, “It’s going to be a very competitive training camp across multiple positions.” We look at each of those competitions as training camp gets underway. Today: Kickers.

It’s still early and absolutely no one is talking about and/or stressing over the Vikings’ inexperienced kickers. But it’s never too early to start preparing fans for the possibility (inevitability?) of the next kicker crisis that could cause the kind of Purple pain that has become all too familiar to a franchise whose heart has been crushed by some of the most unfortunate misses in NFL history (see: Anderson, G. ; Walsh, B. ).

The Vikings let veteran Greg Joseph walk in free agency — to the Packers, for goodness sake — after three mediocre seasons that were good enough to warrant another attempt at consistency but not good enough to make fans care that he’s gone.

That. Could. Change.

The Vikings are banking on Will Reichard, a sixth-round draft pick out of Alabama. Their backup plan if Reichard doesn’t pan out, for now, is John Parker Romo, a 2023 XFL star with no NFL regular-season experience.

Get ready, folks. Things might get a little bumpy.

Last season

Before coming to Minnesota in 2021, Joseph was a veteran player who played 14 games for the Browns in 2018 and two games for the Titans in 2019. He would play 51 games for the Vikings, connecting on 82.2% of his field goals (61 of 83) and 90.3% of his PATs (112 of 124).

It was a strange tenure. Not good enough to celebrate consistently, yet not bad enough to get boiling mad at the guy.

In 2022, the year the Vikings went 11-0 in one-score games, Joseph won NFC Special Teams Player of the Week twice. Once when he made 5 of 5 field goals, including a game-winning 47-yarder to beat the Saints in London. And once when he connected on a team-record 61-yard walk-off winner against the Giants at U.S. Bank Stadium on Christmas Eve.

And yet Joseph still led the league in combined misses that year, with 13, including six misses on 10 field goal attempts from 50-plus distance.

Last season he had another eight misses, while again struggling to score from 50-plus (4 out of 7).

Off season movements

In: Reichard (sixth round draft pick) and Romo (free agent).

Out: Joseph (signed with Packers).

The contenders

One of the most decorated kickers in college football history, Reichard enters the NFL as the NCAA’s all-time scoring leader with 547 points and 84 field goals — on 101 attempts for 83.2 percent completion. Last season, he made 22 of 25 field goals, including 5 of 5 from 50 and beyond. He made two from beyond 50 in Alabama’s semifinal playoff game.

The Saints signed Romo as an undrafted rookie out of Virginia Tech in 2022. He played in the preseason before being cut.

Romo played for the San Antonio Brahmas and won the XFL Special Teams Player of the Year award in 2023. He made 17 of 19 field goal attempts, including 2 of 3 from 50 yards, including one from 57 yards.

He played for the Lions in pre-season last year, but was cut and signed to the Bears’ practice squad, but never played a game for Chicago.

Romo has one advantage. He has experience with the NFL’s new kickoff rules, which are similar to those of the XFL.

One big question

How long is O’Connell’s leash? The last time the Vikings drafted a kicker, things didn’t go so well. In 2018, they took another SEC star, Auburn’s Daniel Carlson, in the fifth round.

Carlson struggled in the preseason, making his only field goal attempt in Week 1 and was thrashed by coach Mike Zimmer eight days later after going 0-for-3 with two overtime misses, including a 35-yarder as time expired in a 29-29 tie at Green Bay. Carlson is now an All-Pro kicker entering Year 7 with the Raiders.

In case you haven’t noticed, current coach Kevin O’Connell is a bit more patient with his players than Zim was. Of course, KO has also somehow managed to make it through Year 3 as Vikings coach without a single last-minute, heartbreaking, Purple-patented, sucker-punch miss from his kicker.

In other words, it’s his turn. How will he handle it if (when?) it happens to an inexperienced kicker?