This one surprised me.
The Vikings now only have one punter on their roster, rookie Ryan Wright, as they released Jordan Berry today, according to PFT. After spending his first six years in the NFL with Pittsburgh, Berry signed with the Vikings just prior to the 2021 season. He won the starting job, and had a pretty good 2021 season, putting up a career high 46.5 yard average with a 40.8 yard net average, stats courtesy of ESPN. From the rumors coming out of training camp, kicker Greg Joseph seems to do better with Berry holding, which is one of the reasons I expected him to win the punter battle this year, but I would be incorrect, as the Vikings punter will now be undrafted rookie Ryan Wright, unless the Vikings look elsewhere for their starting punter.
As I previously mentioned, Ryan Wright (link to Wright’s bio on Vikings.com) is an undrafted rookie who played college ball for Tulane. He stands out, as there aren’t many 6’3″ punters who weigh in at 245 pounds. Will he be the new Vikings starter? Well, he is for now. We’ll see if the front office has other plans for the position.
Do we finally have the wright man for the job?
Joseph likely had to sign off on this as well which is interesting
Unofficial Vikings’ source reports Wright has been practicing at Center as well…….
…….kidding……
MUD spelled backwards is DUM…
Funny story – in 3rd grade the teacher caught me writing DUM on the edge of an English text book.
“You didn’t even spell it right!”
“You stopped me before I could finish.”
LOL.
Gotta save $188,334 on a $208,200,000 salary cap.
LOL, no kidding. I’m guessing the cap hit wasn’t much of a consideration in their decision. Tomasson has some odd takes sometimes.
Was this JUST about money? If so, it makes me wonder a bit.
I seriously doubt money had anything to do with it, but I’ve been wrong before. I just don’t see what savings of less than $200,000 would do. Like you or me saving a nickel.
I doubt it.
At least, I hope not.
Good grief if they are that fanatical about penny pinching.
The age I can see being a factor, BUT how often do you keep a punter for 10 years?
I honestly expect the Vikings to sign a free agent or something. Maybe trade for a punter & make Mark’s head explode.
I guess they signed CB Tye Smith, so that might be the larger consideration along with the cap savings.