In recent years, the Minnesota Vikings have not had to deal with competition at either the place-kicker or punter position. But due to the fact that Blair Walsh was costing the team games (and bringing Vikings fans horrid memories of a certain 27-yard attempt), and Jeff Locke leaving via Free Agency, the two positions are up for grabs.
Minnesota Vikings Special Teams Battles: What You May Not Know
Kicker Position
Marshall Koehn is the name to watch here. The second year kicker had a preseason stint with the Miami Dolphins a year prior to being signed by Minnesota. Koehn has a very strong leg and is a flat out athlete. During the scouting combine he recorded a 4.61 40-yard dash, which was faster than ten wide-receivers attending. When Koehn played at Iowa, he showed his strength when he kicked a 57-yard field goal in a walk off win against Pittsburgh. Koehn will not struggle when asked to kick touchbacks on kickoffs either.
Kai Forbath is the familiar name with most Vikings fans. Forbath came in after the Vikings decided to release Blair Walsh. He was 15/15 on field goals the whole year (although he was 11/14 on extra points). Accuracy is Forbath’s biggest strength as a kicker. The former UCLA Bruin has made long kicks in the past, but has not been consistent with them. His struggles on kickoffs showed as many balls were coming up short of the endzone. Forbath has previously played for four other NFL teams before joining the Vikings. There is no doubt Kai has been a journeyman throughout his career. But now he hopes to win this years kicker battle and take that title off his resume.
Punter Position
Since being drafted in 2013, Jeff Locke has been a very inconsistent punter. And while he maybe had the best year of his career last year in Minnesota, he decided to take his talents (or lack of) to Indianapolis. Since then, the Vikings added two punters to take Jeff’s position, one being Ryan Quigley.
Quigley has been all over the place in the NFL, Minnesota being his 6th team. Special Teams Coach Mike Priefer stated he “couldn’t believe” when Arizona (Quigley’s most recent team) let him go.
Taylor Symmank is the other punter competing for the job. The Texas-Tech alum averaged 43.7 yards per punt in college. The Rookie’s leg is not in question as Coach Priefer called his kicking “phenomenal”. Symmank was also used on kickoffs in college. This brings much needed flexibility especially if Kai Forbath wins the place-kicking job. Mike Zimmer reassured the media at OTAs this will not be a one sided battle and will in fact “end up being a tough decision”.
Summary
Of late, the Vikings special teams unit has fallen short when it comes to consistency as well as being able to win games. This year, the Minnesota coaching staff will focus on changing just that as they look at how the specialists preform in the upcoming training camp practices as well as preseason before the decision is made.
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