The Minnesota Vikings only have one kicker on their current roster as they head into training camp and the preseason this summer.
During Mike Zimmer’s tenure as the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, it seems pretty safe to assume that the kicking game has not exactly been his favorite aspect of the team.
In Zimmer’s five years with the Vikings, the team has had four different guys attempt to keep the job as their kicker. Dan Bailey was someone Minnesota brought in early last season and he actually ended up re-signing with the team this year.
The Vikings bringing back Bailey wasn’t much of a surprise given his experience and the lack of top kicking talent available in free agency and the NFL Draft this offseason. However, the bigger surprise has been the fact that Minnesota hasn’t signed someone else to compete with Bailey to be the team’s kicker for 2019.
While Bailey was a very accurate kicker during his first few years in the NFL, he struggled with the Vikings last season.
He missed a total of seven field goals in 2018, including six that came on attempts from distances of at least 40 yards away, and he failed to convert one of his 31 extra point attempts as well. Prior to last year with Minnesota, Bailey had never missed more than five field goal attempts in a single season since entering the league in 2011.
Looking at his struggles last year, why shouldn’t the Vikings bring in another guy to compete for their kicking job?
There a few free agent kickers that Minnesota could consider adding before training camp including Mike Nugent, Matt Bryant, and Phil Dawson. The Vikings also met with a few rookie kickers this offseason and one of them may be worth bringing in to compete with Bailey.
If Minnesota is thinking about adding some more kicking competition this year, they should do it sooner than later. This way the Vikings can avoid a mad scramble to find someone new in the preseason if Bailey ends up struggling and they don’t feel comfortable going into Week 1 with him as their kicker.
Competition is known to bring out the best in people, so signing another kicker could also result in a more focused Bailey for 2019.
Minnesota has a lot of talent on their roster heading into next season and the last thing they need is for their kicking game to prevent them from reaching their goals once again.