Under Pressure Aplenty, Vikings Draftee Achieves Perfection
On Saturday afternoon, the Vikings hosted the Texans for a football game inside of U.S. Bank Stadium.
Kevin O’Connell’s team stepped away with a victory, finishing off DeMeco Ryans’ team by a score of 20-10. Minnesota now moves up to 1-0 in the meaningless portion of the schedule. While J.J. McCarthy was the center of attention — rightfully so — a fellow Vikings draftee put together his own excellent performance. For a day, Will Reichard was perfect.
Vikings Draftee Will Reichard Didn’t Miss
Coming into the game, there was some attention on Mr. Reichard, largely due to some inconsistency at training camp.
Consider Janik Eckardt’s pre-game thoughts on PurplePTSD: “Another guy who has raised some concerns is Will Reichard, Minnesota’s second-year kicker. Last year’s sixth-rounder was excellent early in his career, but struggled after returning from a stint on IR.”
Eckardt continues: “Those struggles have carried over into training camp, and his numbers have started to look alarming. Usually, kickers are better in practice, but at the end of the day, practice is not a game. If he can show his coaching staff that he’ll get it done on weekends, it would take some pressure off him.”
At training camp, Reichard has had good days and bad days. A week ago, the kicker went 3/5 on his kicks. He then rebounded on Monday of this week, drilling 6/6 kicks at the night practice taking place inside TCO Stadium.
Against the Texans, Reichard inspired confidence early. The Vikings put up 13 points in the opening half and 7 of those points came off the boot of the Alabama alumnus. He had a pair of field goals and an extra point. The first field goal came from 48 yards while the second field goal came from 38.
The second half was quiet, at least for the specialist. The game finished off by a score of 20-10. Max Brosmer — who had some crisp passes, outplaying Brett Rypien — tossed a late touchdown, requiring the kicker to jog onto the field yet again. He drilled the extra point, meaning Reichard was 2/2 on field goals and 2/2 on extra points.
As for kickoffs, there was a clear emphasis on putting the ball in play. Doing so kept the opposition from getting to begin at the 35-yard line. Generally speaking, Reichard appeared to do a nice job, putting the ball just ahead of the endzone so that the coverage team could rally up for the tackle after reasonably modest returns. Close to 84% of his kickoffs last season went for a touchback, but that’s unlikely to be the case for the upcoming season.
As a rookie, Reichard started off blazing hot. Several weeks in a row involved perfect kicking as the rookie seemed undaunted by the transition to the NFL.
Things began to change, however, when he missed some kicks in the middle of the season before then needing some time in the infirmary (an injury that got attributed to overexertion).
Special teams coordinator Matt Daniels detailed how proceeding through the college football season (and playoffs), the Senior Bowl, the Combine, the draft leadup, and then right into an NFL offseason meant Reichard didn’t have much of a break (if any at all). The heavy workload eventually caught up to him.
In theory, Will Reichard’s body should be in a better spot going into 2025. He hasn’t needed to jump through all of the hoops prior to getting drafted since he’s already in the NFL, so he should be physically and mentally fresher.
As a rookie, Will Reichard finished off by going 24/30 (80%) on his field goals and 38/38 (100%) on his extra points. Improving on the former while maintaining the latter is the goal.
The sophomore is 24.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference helped with this piece.
