The special teams shuffle actually worked
For the majority of last year’s offseason, training camp, and preseason, Minnesota used a variety of different methods to try and solve their kicking situation. They even wasted a fifth-round draft pick on a guy by the name of Kaare Vedvik who couldn’t even handle the pressure of being a Vikings kicker during the preseason.
In the end, Minnesota stuck with Dan Bailey as their placekicker, brought in Britton Colquitt to be the team’s punter and holder, and gave the long-snapper job to rookie Austin Cutting.
The kicking combo resulted in Bailey having one of the best seasons of his career in 2019. The veteran placekicker made 27 of his 29 field goal attempts and 40 of his 44 extra point tries. Inside U.S. Bank Stadium this year, Bailey didn’t even miss a single kick.
So the Vikings’ decision to hire Marwan Maalouf as their special teams coach and bring in Nate Kaeding to be a kicking consultant actually ended up paying off. It worked so well, Mike Zimmer was even making excuses for some of Bailey’s misses during the season (mind = blown).