A Subtle Hint about the Leader in an Overlooked Vikings Position Battle
Reading things too quickly would lead to missing the subtle hint, but it’s there in plain sight.
Kicker Will Reichard has continued to be impressive. Per Craig Peters of Vikings.com, the young fella had a perfect day on Saturday: “After knocking one in from the 33-yard distance of an extra point, Reichard followed with accurate blasts through the uprights from 42, 46, 48, 53 and 58 yards.” Underneath that proclamation, though, was a brief word about the holder: Ryan Wright.
A Subtle Hint about The Vikings’ Punter Battle
First and foremost, the starting punter needs to be able to give his team good field position.
On a lot of 4th downs, the punter is going to trot onto the field. His task involves launching a football high in the air, giving his teammates ample time to work down the field to secure the tackle if there’s a return. Crucially, though, there also needs to be good distance, as well.
So, some sort of balance where distance and hang time collide. Oh, and another thing: being able to angle the football by dropping it in certain areas of the field can also be vital. Doing so allows for the coverage team to get good pursuit angles for the potential return.
In other words, it’s not an easy job.
Another component is to be the holder for field goals. It sounds a bit silly, but the job is an important one. Securing a bullet of a snap and getting things placed cleanly is very important. So much of kicking is predicated on timing, so it’s notable that Ryan Wright has been the one getting all of the chances to hold for Reichard. The two are building chemistry.
Kick it back to Peters for the word: “Minnesota opted to have punter Ryan Wright serve as the holder for all six kicks by Reichard. Wright is in competition with Seth Vernon.”
Subtle, right? Yes, Wright is looking to fend off Vernon to retain his spot as Minnesota’s P1. Vernon got added to serve as direct competition and the sense one gets is that the competition hasn’t been nearly as decisive as with Reichard and John Parker Romo, who has now been released.
As a rookie, Wright did some excellent work. He averaged 42.3 net yards per punt and only had a single touchback. He landed 32 of his punts inside the 20-yard line and had a long of 73 yards.
Basically all of those numbers took a step back as a sophomore. He averaged 41.6 net yards per punt and had 7 touchbacks. Only 17 punts got downed inside the 20 and his long was down at 68. So, competition was added for the large punter (Wright is 6’3″, 245). For whatever it’s worth, PFF graded Wright as the 13th best punter in 2022 before dropping him down to 20th in 2023.
Securing good field position is going to continue being priority #1. However, being able to set the kicker up for success on field goals is part of the equation. The simple fact that Wright is getting all of the 1st-team reps in that capacity functions as a subtle hint that he’s leading the punter competition.
Entering Year 3 in the NFL, Ryan Wright is still only 24. He’ll carry a $986,668 cap hit into the season if he makes the team.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference, PFF, and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
It’s Another Perfect Showing from a Vikings Rookie
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.