Former Minnesota Vikings punter is now out of a job

The Minnesota Vikings’ starting punter from a season ago, Jeff Locke, was released by the Indianapolis Colts on Monday.

Following the conclusion of the 2016 NFL season, the Minnesota Vikings had a bunch of players on their roster were that set to be free-agents during the 2017 offseason. Punter Jeff Locke was one who opted to leave Minnesota and sign a two-year, $3.45 million contract with the Indianapolis Colts.

Perhaps the Colts originally thought they were stealing a gem away from the Vikings, but it did not take very long before Locke’s new team decided that he was not quite what they were hoping for in a starting punter.

Indianapolis announced on Monday that the team was releasing Locke, only three weeks into the 2017 preseason.

Minnesota Vikings

Despite signing him to a pretty nice contract them this offseason, the Colts still had Locke compete for the starting punter job with a an undrafted rookie in Rigoberto Sanchez. With Monday’s move, Sanchez is obviously being chosen for the role over Locke, who will now have to try and catch on elsewhere if he wants to play in 2017.

Even if he does not sign with another team this year, Locke will still go home with a nice $1.25 million that was already guaranteed to him by Indianapolis before his release on Monday.

After getting drafted by Minnesota in the fifth round of the 2013 draft, Locke remained on the Vikings roster for four seasons. He was immediately named the team’s starter as a rookie in 2013 and he went on to punt in a total of 64 underwhelming games for Minnesota.

Cornerback Xavier Rhodes and defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd are the only two players left on the Vikings’ current roster from the team’s 2013 draft class.

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As for Locke, do not expect Minnesota to be giving him a call anytime soon to ask about re-joining the team.