A Vikings Free Agent Wants to Come Back to Minnesota
Not too long ago, Ryan Wright — the punter who is quietly a Vikings free agent — clarified his desire to remain in Minnesota.
In fact, he did so while we chatted for an interview on Vikings Territory. Wright was working through his very promising 2025 season at the time. He’s now moving into the final weeks before being able to test free agency. That is, of course, unless he opts to put pen to paper on a new deal to keep him in Minnesota.
Vikings Free Agent Ryan Wright Wants Back in MIN
Toward the end of a meandering conversation, Wright chimed in on his status in Minnesota while responding to a question about staying: “I love Minnesota. Treated me and my family very well and would love to have an opportunity to come back.”
For whatever it’s worth, those thoughts from Wright arrived after praising special teams coordinator Matt Daniels. So, too, did he have good things to say about working alongside kicker Will Reichard and long snapper Andrew DePaola. Add it all up and seeing him stick around makes some sense.
At the top end of the punter market is Michael Dickson, who commands a touch above $4 million per season. There’s then Logan Cooke coming in at a cool $4 million per season. Otherwise, there aren’t any others so high.
There’s then a cluster of eight punters who hit or surpass an average of $3 million per season. In all likelihood, Mr. Wright is going to see his deal fit somewhere within this range, a nice pay bump from the $1.75 million from 2025.
Across seventeen games, Ryan Wright punted the ball 65 times for 3,184 total yards. On average, that’s 49.0 yards per punt with the team gaining an average of 44.5 yards per punt, a career-high number for the 25-year-old specialist and fourth-best in the NFL. The longest punt of the season went for a whopping 77 yards (what he refers to as his “napalm” punt).
Also noteworthy is that he landed 25 punts inside the 20. He did have a trio of touchbacks.
As many know by this point, the Vikings don’t have a ton of money to spend. Even still, a new deal for Mr. Wright ought to be something that the front office figures out.
He got added as an undrafted talent following the 2022 draft and has stuck around as a strong option since then. Pretty quietly, he’s perhaps the best young player to have been scooped up within that haul of talent.
The punter stands at 6’3″ and comes in at an imposing 245 pounds.
