Aloha, Skoloholics! The Vikings continue to make moves in the final minutes before free agency, and the latest player that the Vikings re-signed is kicker Greg Joseph, according to NBC Sports. The Vikings also signed their long snapper, Andrew DePaola, per twincities.com.
As we all know, the Minnesota Vikings have had abysmal luck with kickers in the past decade. Other than the first two Blair Walsh years, Vikings kickers have been inconsistent and unreliable. Greg Joseph has been an improvement over what the team had for many years, so I guess they figure they should lock him into a contract before free agency begins. Long snapper Andrew DePaola was a pro-bowler last year, and continuity on the special teams unit is important, so it makes sense for the team to bring him back as well.
In 2022, Greg Joseph hit 26 of 33 field goals for a 78.8% success rate, link to PFR. In his defense, six of those 7 misses came from 50+ and his only other miss was from 40-49. Prior to last year, Joseph was hitting long field goals with regularity, so maybe the team feels that last year was an anomaly. Most fans’ biggest concern is Joseph’s extra point ability, as he missed 6 extra points out of 46 attempts last year.
If it were me, I’d have looked for an upgrade. On the other hand, the team locked in their kicker for $2 million. They’re bringing the special teams battery back for another year, so they must feel that Joseph just had a bit of an off-year, and that he’ll be more reliable. Wishful thinking? I don’t know, we’ll see whether they know what they’re doing here. SKOL!!!!!1
So, unpossible for Kwesi to find a better kicker?
I was hoping for better this year.