Dan Bailey is back
It was a little depressing during this past offseason with all the kickers available in free agency and the Vikings still felt he need to bring back Dan Bailey. The reason it was so depressing was that Bailey hit just 75 percent of his field-goal attempts in 2018.
He was brought in to be the savior, but he was nothing but a damned goat. If it wasn’t for his cheap price tag and Minnesota’s tight cap situation, he’d likely be elsewhere this year.
Bailey was one of the best kickers in the NFL for many years as a member of the Dallas Cowboys. He ended up hurting his groin in 2017 and maybe that was what made him lose his confidence and his job to rookie Brett Maher.
Whatever the reason, Bailey was clearly a shell of himself in 2018. He missed field goals badly left and right, came up short on deep ones, and he was collectively making fans hold their breath every time he lined up to kick.
The Vikings have done some things to help Bailey out. Minnesota not only brought in Marwan Maalouf as the new special teams coach, but they also signed Nate Kaeding to be the team’s part-time kicking coach. Maybe having Kaeding in his ear, and working on his form will help Bailey get out of his 2018 funk.
At this point, this is all just wishful thinking. As long as Bailey remains the Vikings’ kicker throughout the upcoming preseason and into the regular season, Minnesota fans should be very concerned.