Vikings Workout New Player for Specialist Position
The Vikings workouts are an ongoing effort, recently leading to signing a massive receiver.
Ben Goessling of The Star Tribune offered the word. Kick it over to the Vikings writer for the update on the workout: “Per the NFL transaction wire, the #Vikings tried out former Oklahoma punter Luke Elzinga on Thursday.”
Vikings Workout a Punter
Throughout the 2025 season, Ryan Wright has been putting together some excellent work.
The fourth-year pro is coming off a quiet game in Week 14, getting the chance to punt the ball just a single time. His lone punt went for 43 yards, a humdrum day for someone who is among the league’s best punters. His current stats see him sitting at 51 punts with the average sitting at a very healthy 48.8 yards per punt. The 44.6 net-yards-per-punt average is excellent, as well.
Note, too, that he has a single, lonely touchback to stand alongside dropping 19 punts inside the 20-yard line.
But while Wright’s year has been very good, the Vikings’ decision was to bring in a specialist to the Twin Cities to show what he can do.
Elzinga has a good build, standing at 6’4″ and weighing 229 pounds. Obviously, a punter’s height and weight isn’t going to matter in the same way as for an edge rusher, corner, or various other positions, but seeing someone with some size is still a good thing. After all, there are times when a punter needs to make a tackle.
In college, Elzinga did some good things. He played for Oklahoma — an SEC program — in 2024, punting the ball 60 times. He had a healthy 44.8 yards-per-punt average.
Reasonably, there’s a pile of attention on how far a punter can boot the ball. Leaning on the punter means opting for better field position, so being able to chew up yards is important.
Note, though, that’s there’s more to punting than just sending the ball sailing into orbit. The hang time is critical since it gives the coverage players time to get down the field. Ideally, the gunners will be over top of the returner’s toes immediately as the ball descends from the sky. The end result of that kind of punt is there being essentially zero chance of a return (again, field position).
There’s then an emphasis on catching the snap cleanly to quickly punt the ball as well as being able to put the ball in a good location. More specifically, the desire is to land the ball close to the sideline, thereby limiting the punt returner’s ability to move in any direction.
Finally, note that field goals are a full team effort, one where the punter often plays a key role. There’s the blockers and the snapper who are playing obvious supporting jobs for Will Reichard. Somewhat hidden within all of that is the holder, the one who is placing the ball down — and with the laces out, as Ace Ventura rightly emphasizes — to ensure the kicker is comfortable.
Very likely, the Vikings are going to continue rallying around Ryan Wright after the current season (with there being zero threat to him for the remaining games). He’s having an excellent 2025 and should be a priority to keep around with a new contract.
We’ll see if Luke Elzinga gets added to function as head-to-head competition during the offseason.
