Ryan Quigley may have needed to fight for his spot on the Minnesota Vikings roster this year, but he did something no other punter in the NFL did in 2017.
In today’s NFL, there are some players who don’t get a lot of attention. The media loves to report on quarterbacks, wide receivers, running backs, and other players who are instrumental on offense or defense, but the Minnesota Vikings punter deserves some love.
2017 was a tough year for Ryan Quigley. He entered the preseason in a competition with Taylor Symmank for the punting job and that battle lasted through the final week of the preseason before the decision was made to keep Quigley.
Now that all 17 games have been played during the regular season, it’s easy to look back and see that the Vikings made the right decision when picking their punter. And that decision was solidified even more when realizing what he accomplished this season.
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According to Andrew Krammer of the Star Tribune on Twitter, Quigley is the only punter in the league who didn’t have a touchback on a punt this season. Not only that, but he becomes the first player in the Vikings franchise to accomplish that feat since the stat began being tracked in 1991.
Quigley did have a downside though. His average of 41.8 places him 31st among punters, and last on the list of qualified players at the position. But, on the flip side of that, 24 of his 63 attempts landed inside the 20, with several of them putting Minnesota’s opponents within feet of their own end zone.
Still, Quigley’s consistency should be enough to force the Vikings to consider keeping him around for the 2018 season unless they feel the need to bring in a punter with a stronger leg. However, it would be hard to justify making that change after getting these results.
Next: Ups and Downs from Week 17 vs Bears
Congratulations to Minnesota Vikings punter Ryan Quigley on his amazing accomplishment during the 2017 NFL season and hopefully he can continue to put the team in good field positions heading into the playoffs.