Blair Walsh Talks his Time in Minnesota and THAT Kick…
Joe Johnson
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After a career in Minnesota that ended up being too inconsistent for Mike Preifer and the rest of the Vikings organization. It’s not for lack of trying, on either side, as the Vikings were extremely patient with the kicker who they rewarded with one of the largest contracts (for a kicker) in the history of the NFL. That came after a rookie season that broke all sorts of records, most impressively for the most 50 yard field goals made by a rookie. After that, though, he was mostly hit and miss and that’s something that you can’t have in the NFL, especially when you have a team that plays strong defense and ends up in games that are won and lost over 2-3 points. Then came the Seattle playoff game.
Ironically, Walsh is now in Seattle and he’s been talking to the media in Minnesota this week as the Vikings will be facing the Seahawks on Friday night for their second pre-season game. He’s had a lot to say and while it was communicated to me as “Walsh Talking S&#t” this morning (from someone I see at the gas station who always asks if I’ve heard the latest Vikings news), it doesn’t really sound like that that’s what he was doing, but rather just discussing his feelings about his career here. Trust me, if anyone wanted to hear Walsh run his mouth, it’d be me, as I was taken aback by the reaction by fans to his miss which was strangely angry and insult heavy, but for the exact opposite reasons, you’d expect. If you said anything about the Vikings getting rid of Walsh, people would say pretty awful things to you about “getting a life” or not taking sports “So Seriously” (But worse). My views at the time weren’t about cutting him out of spite but rather out of reliability and knowing that if he has had issues in the past with getting stuck in his own head then that problem won’t get any better after missing a kick of that magnitude, in that way.
So, I wasn’t surprised when of course Walsh’s issues didn’t get any better last year and the Vikes ended up cutting their multi-million dollar kicker before the end of the season, bringing in Kai Forbath off of waivers to replace him.
Speaking to the Fox affiliate in Seattle (KCPQ-TV) Walsh, who quickly and ironically signed with the Seattle Seahawks, said about the missed kick and his time in Minnesota:
“It’s part of my career, it’s part of what I’ve done. It’s a very small part, and that’s how I like to treat it. That kick’s not going to define me.”
That much is true. If that kick did define him, outside of the debt of gratitude the Seahawks must have for Walsh I doubt they’d sign him if they thought that kick was going to haunt him. However, the reality is that he had a pretty terrible 2016 as well and considering the booming leg that he did have, it’s pretty obvious that the problem is in his head. In speaking about his last year in Minnesota though, Walsh wasn’t really placing any blame anywhere (internally or externally, really):
“It just wasn’t fun, it wasn’t fun trying to work through it and get better. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to finish out the year. I thought I would be able to correct it, and I didn’t get that chance. But it’s alright. I’m happy with the place I’m in, and I wouldn’t change anything.”
As Walsh says, unfortunately on a stage as large as the NFL’s you don’t have time to correct things that are costing your team wins in the middle of costing them those wins. There’s a reason that only a handful of people in the world can do what NFL kickers do and it’s because they’re expected to sit, cold, on a sideline for hours and then come out and kick a ball that could determine whether or not their team wins a championship off of that bench. The pressure and even physical aspect of it is really, really challenging and there’s a reason why so few people actually are good at it.
Really, I feel like the only thing that could’ve salvaged Walsh’s career would’ve been a change of scenery as he was never going to escape the shadow cast by that wide left 27 yarder. While people were extremely supportive of Walsh afterward, with entire classrooms of children writing to him to tell him not to get down on himself, that still contributes to whatever issue(s) he was having in his mind that was making it hard for him to consistently hit kicks, short ones especially. Walsh finished by saying:
“Nobody wants to get released, but I’m also the first person to say that if I had made more kicks I would still be (in Minnesota) right now. But I know my ability. I know that I have produced in this league, and everyone has seen that, And I can continue to do that.”
He’s right. The Vikings did have him under contract for the foreseeable future and at least he’s being realistic and not throwing shade at the coaches for things that were completely his fault. That’s not to say that he’s a bad guy or that we should hope for his failure, it’d just be typical Vikings if he were to succeed in Seattle after being released by the Vikes. Granted, the Vikings have Forbath, who they picked up off of waivers late last year and who was perfect in his attempts but even they know he’s not the long-term solution and they’ve brought in competition this pre-season. Another team that knows about kicking situations is Tampa Bay, who spent a SECOND round draft pick in 2016 on a kicker. Roberto Aguayo was released by the Bucs after one terrible season and a terrible pre-season and some Vikings fans have posted links online about the Vikings potentially bringing him in for a try-out. He was the most accurate kicker in the history of the NCAA but, like Walsh, couldn’t handle the pressure and would get caught in his own head.
The thing about this is, the Vikings don’t necessarily need a kicker with a super strong leg, especially with the changes to touchback rules and spots. They simply need a kicker who can reliably hit balls from 45 yards and in and it seems like they do have that in Forbath, for now. There’s also a reason why Forbath was available so it might make sense to give Aguayo a call, who knows, maybe some of that luck will end up coming their way and they’ll land the most accurate kicker in the history of the NCAA for next to nothing. Only time will tell!