After struggling to find a solid punter and holder, the Minnesota Vikings made sure to lock down Britton Colquitt to a multi-year contract.
The vision of field goal attempts sailing far away from the uprights or clanging off the goal post will hopefully remain a thing of the past now that the Minnesota Vikings have reportedly re-signed punter and holder Britton Colquitt.
Colquitt, a 34-year-old veteran of the NFL who is known as a holding specialist, will stay with the Vikings for the next three seasons according to a report from ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Monday. The new deal is worth $9 Million and it includes $5 million in guarantees.
Minnesota must have realized the importance of bringing Colquitt back, as he got a huge raise from his 2019 campaign. In fact, the punter only made $930,000 last year and now he’s looking at an average of $3 million per year. That’s a pay raise of over 300 percent.
Plus, the Vikings guaranteeing him over half of his contract goes even further to prove how tired they are of trying to find a combination that works on special teams that can result in efficiency and consistency.
In addition to his holding skills, Colquitt was an excellent punter for Minnesota in 2019 too. He was able to keep the ball out of the end zone on a regular basis while averaging 45.2 yards per punt with a net gain of 42.6 yards and no touchbacks.
Sadly, kicker Dan Bailey has still not agreed to terms on a new contract with the Vikings. But there are reports that the team has been in conversations with him in order to keep the core special teams unit together for at least 2020.
Hopefully, Minnesota can find a way to bring back Bailey to join Colquitt and long snapper Austin Cutting so there are no changes in the kicking unit. But for now, fans should be happy to see the punter and holder are a part of the franchise for the next three years.