Vikings Rookie Continues to Steal the Spotlight
The Vikings’ 2024 draft class was top-heavy from the jump, with J.J. McCarthy and Dallas Turner joining the club in the first round as the only two players in the first three rounds. The quarterback has been placed on IR after his unfortunate knee injury, while Turner has shined in his few preseason opportunities. He will be an exciting player to watch once the regular season begins.
Vikings Rookie Continues to Steal the Spotlight
But a late-round rookie has stolen the show recently. Kicker Will Reichard has been outstanding for the Vikings all offseason, and he continued his rise in the preseason contests, hitting seven of his eight field goals (the miss was blocked) and all eight extra points. In the preseason opener, Reichard made a last-second game-winner.
On Saturday, in preseason game number three against the Philadelphia Eagles, Reichard drilled a 57-yarder, and he made it look quite easy.
Placekickers, even nowadays, aren’t automatically hitting attempts from that distance. A 57-yarder in the regular season would rank second all-time in Vikings franchise history, only trailing Greg Joseph’s 61-yard record from 2022.
In the past five NFL seasons, kickers hit 23 of 43 attempts from exactly 57 yards out. It was the exclamation point on an impressive summer for Minnesota’s rookie.
Reichard started in competition with XFL standout kicker John Parker Romo. After a long college career at Central Arkansas, Tulsa, and Virginia Tech, Romo went undrafted, but he has had stints with the Saints, Lions, and Bears since. His only meaningful on-field experience came in the XFL when he hit 17 of 19 field goals in 2023 and a (since broken) 57-yard record for the longest field goal in the developmental league.
The Vikings ended that contest in July by releasing him and handing the job to Reichard.
He turned heads a while ago. ESPN’s Kevin Seifert wrote in June: “During the team’s final OTA, which was moved indoors because of rain, Reichard nearly hit a balcony that is perched on the wall behind — and above — the goal posts while moving through a progression of 40+ yard attempts. Later, in a full drill with a defense, he drilled a 60-yarder that landed in a net that sits 10 feet behind the goal post and 10 feet off the ground.”
That was just one of many times the rookie earned praise from media personnel.
On various days during training camp, a report detailed his kicking, and often, his accuracy was perfect. Throughout the summer, he hit 35 of 39 kicks in team drills, according to Seifert.
Reichard’s selection in the sixth round wasn’t well-received in the analytics world, as teams usually struggle to identify good kickers, allowing the hit rate among undrafted kickers to be pretty close to that among drafted kickers. The critics have been very quiet recently.
The early returns on the Alabama specialist are positive, but those watching him in college aren’t surprised. He is the all-time NCAA points leader, hitting 295 of 297 extra points and 84 of 100 field goals.
His predecessor in Minnesota, Greg Joseph, meanwhile, is struggling to beat shaky Packers kicker Anders Carlson in Green Bay’s camp.
The Vikings are due to finally find a decent kicker. Reichard’s first regular season kicks will come on September 8 when the Vikings head east to face the New York Giants.
Editor’s Note: Information from Stathead and Pro Football Reference helped with this article.
Two Unlikely Vikings Heroes Emerged in Preseason Game 3
Janik Eckardt is a football fan who likes numbers and stats. The Vikings became his favorite team despite their quarterback at the time, Christian Ponder. He is a walking soccer encyclopedia, loves watching sitcoms, and prefers Classic rock over other genres. Follow him on Twitter if you like the Vikings: @JanikEckardt