Kevin O’Connell Confirms the Obvious, Points Toward Addition at Key Roster Spot
K. Joudry
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Generally speaking, the Vikings’ leadership can be fairly evasive when talking to the media about what’s to come. That tendency is part of what made yesterday’s press conference response from Kevin O’Connell notable.
For a bit beyond fifteen minutes, O’Connell navigated a variety of topics. Toward the end, O’Connell takes on a question about adding a kicker in the draft or possibly waiting until undrafted free agency. “That’s a position where I look at it and really want to hopefully [have] a competitive situation.” Bringing up the competition would involve “possibly a draft pick” or adding “post draft.”
Kevin O’Connell Confirms That a Kicker Addition is Coming
Currently, there’s John Parker Romo.
Romo could become the new K1 in Minnesota, but that’s far from a sure thing. His most recent assignment was to kick in the XFL, where he found some success. Before the 2023 season, Romo bounced around the NFL a bit — he had some short stops with the Saints, Lions, and Bears without getting onto an NFL field. In college, he was a teammate with Christian Darrisaw at Virginia Tech.
Allowing Greg Joseph to sign with the Green Bay Packers meant that Minnesota would be moving ahead with a new plan at kicker. Part of that plan is to give Romo a shot at the top spot, but the final chapter hasn’t been written in this offseason competition.
Accordingly, PurplePTSD has covered the kicker situation previously.
The basic argument is that failing to snag an established veteran always made a draft focus likely. Last offseason, the team added Jack Podlesny as an UDFA, but that didn’t result in a new K1. Any chance Minnesota adjusts their strategy by using one of their seven Day 3 selections on someone to help with field goals?
Convincing O’Connell about the merit of having an automatic kicker won’t be difficult.
The head coach in his own words: “I really do want to have a competitive situation [in the offseason]. And I just think with how close games are in this league and I know everybody loves going for 4th-down conversions as much as possible, but points are still a very, very important metric.”
“Anytime you can feel confident putting somebody out there that they’re going to ring the bell and get you three points, it could be the difference in the game, I think it’s critical,” O’Connell explains.
To that end, the Vikings seem locked and loaded when it comes to adding someone else. Is Minnesota a guarantee to draft a kicker? No, nothing is certain in the draft, but they do seem quite likely to do so. And if they miss on drafting one, then the focus will shift toward someone from the UDFA cluster of players and/or a veteran free agent.
The 2024 NFL Draft begins on Thursday, April 25th and will end on Saturday, April 27th. The Vikings own nine draft selections.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
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K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter and as a co-host for Notes from the North, a humble Vikings podcast.