NFL rosters are coming along slowly. The moves after the draft are always interesting as teams fix holes they couldn’t fix in the draft. Minnesota traded edge rusher Za’Darius Smith and waived Kenny Wilkes. In return, he inducted Lucky Jackson into the organization. Other teams are also trying to revamp their rosters for the upcoming season.
Lions acquire former Vikings kicker
The Minnesota Vikings have historically been snakebitten by the kicking part of football. Blair Walsh and Gary Anderson gave the Vikes two of their most devastating post-season losses in recent history. There’s something cursed about the outfit, but it can’t be the color purple. Ravens kicker Justin Tucker is proving that year in and year out in the purple jersey, and he’s a future Hall of Famer.
The Vikings had a good kicker for at least two games when they drafted Daniel Carlson in the fifth round in 2018, but once he entered the building, he stopped kicking. Carlsen was cut after two games with the franchise. He signed with the Raiders and is now on his Hall of Fame path as a very reliable kicker.
In 2021, the Vikings hired a kicker named Riley Patterson in the preseason, but he was waived in August with an injury settlement. Greg Joseph won the kicking job at Minnesota. Patterson bounced around in New England and joined the Lions and Jaguars.
The Jacksonville Jaguars picked up veteran kicker Brandon McManus, who was released by the Broncos and subsequently wanted to release Patterson. It was already reported, but it never happened. Instead, Detroit Sent Conditional seventh-round draft pick in 2026 to the Jaguars to reunite with Patterson.
He was with the Lions in 2021 and made 13 of 14 field goals and all 16 extra points. One of the games was against the Vikings, where he kicked all five of his kicks. Patterson, who hit the game-winning field goal for the Jaguars to defeat the Chargers in the post-season, would meet the Vikings twice in the following season and match up with Greg Joseph, whom the Vikes selected.
Joseph has been a mixed bag in his two seasons in Minnesota. In his second game with the team, Joseph missed the game-winning field goal attempt from only 37 yards in a loss to the Cardinals. However, Joseph completely redeemed himself after that with seven successful game-winning kicks, an outstanding number.
Joseph kicked the game-winning field goal from 61 yards out against the Giants on Christmas Eve, the longest kick in franchise history at five yards. He’s been absolutely brilliant in those late-game situations.
Meanwhile, the number of extra points he misses is a matter of concern, as he missed 6 of his 46 attempts. Only Cairo Santos and Joey Sly had more trouble with short kicks last season. Special teams coach Matt Daniels certainly expects improvement in that area.
Joseph signed a one-year, $2 million contract after his last deal expired. The Vikings re-signed their free agent. He could be cut after training camp, but the team would have to take a dead cap hit of $1.7 million and save only $300,000.
He will face Jack Podlesny in training camp, an undrafted rookie out of Georgia who played a lot of football in bright lights. Podlesny hit 182 of 184 career extra points and 61 of 74 field goals. He led the nation in points last season with 151 and looks to be fifth in 2021. The kicker led the SEC in points each of the last two seasons and signed a deal for $15,000 guaranteed.
The Vikings could make a deal for McManus or Patterson, but the reigns seem to have faith in Joseph and his post-game heroics. Unless Podlesny can beat Joseph, the two kickers will meet in Weeks 16 and 18.
Janik Ekardt is a football fan who loves numbers and statistics. The Vikings became his favorite team, despite the quarterback at the time, Christian Ponder. He is a walking football encyclopedia, loves watching sitcoms, and classic rock is his musical genre of choice. If you like Vikings, follow them on Twitter: @JanikEckardt
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