The Minnesota Vikings may be interested in swinging a trade with the Denver Broncos for punter Britton Colquitt.
Minnesota Vikings punter Jeff Locke has had a poor preseason and now the team may have their sights set on replacing him.
According to a report from KUSA’s Mike Klis, the Broncos are shopping punter Britton Colquitt and the Vikings may have interest.
Klis mentions the Cardinals, Bears and Panthers as teams that potentially could also want Colquitt.
The 31-year-old Colquitt is set to make $3.25 million this year and has been asked to take a pay cut. The Broncos drafted Riley Dixon from Syracuse and he has done well enough in preseason for Denver to trust him as their full-time punter.
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Though he’s not a world-beater, Colquitt would almost certainly be an upgrade over Jeff Locke, who has consistently ranked among the worst punters in the league since he was drafted in the fifth round in 2013.
Speculation has flown about the Vikings replacing Locke since rookie minicamp when the team tried out a pair of college punters.Texas Tech’s Taylor Symmank did well enough for the Vikings to put him on speed dial.
Vikings special teams coach Mike Priefer has connections to Britton Colquitt, having coached him for a year in Denver. Priefer has also coached Britton’s brother Dustin.
The Vikings have at this point done everything within their power to make it work with Locke. They even brought in in a new long snapper to help him with his timing.
The Vikings re-signed long snapper Kevin McDermott but do not eager to hold on to Locke.
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Locke has won no fans in Minnesota with his inconsistency and few seem to be buying the argument that moving indoors will help revive his career.
It’s worth noting that Locke was the holder who failed to turn the laces in on Blair Walsh’s soul-crushing missed field goal to lose last year’s playoff game vs. Seattle.
Not too many folks would be sad to see Jeff Locke go, is what I’m driving at.