In their first official move in the off-season, the Seattle Seahawks have signed kicker Blair Walsh to their roster.
Seahawks have signed former Vikings K Blair Walsh, per @FieldYates. Steve Hauschka is a free agent.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 9, 2017
Seattle Seahawks Sign Kicker Blair Walsh
Walsh was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the sixth round of the 2012 NFL Draft after playing collegiately for Georgia, where he had a decent career.
Walsh had a great rookie season with the Vikings. He was 35-out-of-38 on his field goal attempts, 100 percent from between 20 and 29 yards and 50-plus yards and was also 100 percent on extra points. He was named first-team All-Pro and elected to the Pro Bowl that same season
In his sophomore campaign, Walsh made 26-out-of-30 field goal attempts and missed only one extra point for a completion percentage of 86.7.
In his career, Walsh has a total field goal completion percentage of 84.2 and is 94.5 in extra points.
Shortly, it seemed as if Walsh’s career began to deteriorate. His last two seasons with the Vikings became notorious after continuing to miss field goal attempts. In the 2015 Wild Card playoff game, the Seahawks were up 10-9 and the Vikings had the ball. All Walsh had to do was kick the field goal for the win but instead, he went wide left in a horrifying team finish.
Now, ironically, Walsh has joined the team he easily gave a win. The Seahawks wrote in their announcement, “Walsh adds competition to the team’s kicker position that has featured Steven Hauschka for the past six seasons” (Seahawks.com). Haushcka, like Walsh, has also had an difficult season. He is 89.2 percent for field goals on the season, and 82.9 percent on extra points, a man that Seahawks players aren’t used to seeing. In week 6 at Arizona, Hauschka missed a potentially game-winning field goal and extra point. The game resulted in a tie, the first in Seahawks history. Hauschka is a free agent if the Seahawks do not plan to re-sign him.
Seahawks sign kicker Blair Walsh.
📰 | https://t.co/gmSIsjyrh3 pic.twitter.com/dLG0Lh1KZm
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) February 9, 2017
