The Minnesota Vikings didn’t have a kicker on their roster but filled that hole by bringing back Kai Forbath for the 2018 NFL season.
The Minnesota Vikings have been in an interesting situation heading into the 2018 NFL season. Despite making a few major changes, the team is attempting to keep the rest of the team as similar to the squad that made the NFC Championship game last year.
One piece of that puzzle was still up in the air was what the team was going to do for a kicker. For the last two years, Kai Forbath has been the man in charge of that duty, but his contract expired after the 2017 season.
After spending some time testing the waters in free agency, it seems the Minnesota Vikings have decided to bring Forbath back. The news was shared by Chris Tomasson from the Twin Cities Pioneer Press on Twitter:
Kai Forbath is returning to Minnesota on a one-year deal, source says.
— Chris Tomasson (@christomasson) March 20, 2018
Forbath came to the Vikings in free agency before the 2016 NFL season and connected on all 15 of his field goal attempts including one from over 50 yards away. However, he struggled on extra points, going 11 of 14.
Minnesota Vikings
2017 saw him connect on 32 of his 38 field goal tries and improve his extra point conversion percentage from 78.6% to 87.2%.
It is being reported that Forbath’s one-year deal with Minnesota will see him get a “small” raise from his $775,000 salary in 2017, but it shouldn’t be significant enough to make a major impact on the team’s salary cap situation.
Also, it is being reported by Tomasson that Minnesota has interest in bringing back some of their other free agents, including Marcus Sherels and Terence Newman, with a chance of Jeremiah Sirles and Shamar Stephen coming back as well.
Although the Vikings will be bringing Forbath back, that doesn’t mean the team won’t look for competition during training camp or the preseason. There is a good chance Minnesota could look to the draft or the undrafted free agent pool for a young kicker to compete with the veteran.
Next: Which 2018 free-agents will the Vikings re-sign?
Congratulations to Kai Forbath on his return to the Minnesota Vikings! Even though it is just a one year deal, it’s great that the team is willing to bring back the kicker for the 2018 NFL season to see what he can do for the franchise going forward.