3 Vikings who could lose starting job to a rookie in 2022

Greg Joseph – K

After spending the majority of the 2020 campaign on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers practice squad, Greg Joseph signed with the Vikings during the 2021 offseason.

Joseph went on to open the 2021 season as Minnesota’s kicker and it was a role he held for all 17 games on the team’s schedule.

In his first year with the Vikings, he made 33 of his 38 field-goal attempts (86.8 percent) and 36 of his 40 extra-point tries (90 percent). Following his performance last season, Minnesota decided to place a right-of-first-refusal tender on Joseph earlier this year.

The kicker signed the tender, which keeps him under contract with the Vikings for another season. Importantly, however, none of the $2.43 million in his deal with Minnesota includes any guaranteed money. Which means the Vikings can cut him this summer without being left with any sort of dead cap.

Minnesota special teams coordinator Matt Daniels recently revealed that Minnesota will be holding an open kicking competition this summer between Joseph and undrafted rookie, Gabe Brkic.

Brkic spent his college career at Oklahoma, and last season, he converted 20 of his 26 field-goal attempts (76.9 percent). He might seem like a long shot to open the 2022 campaign as the Vikings kicker, but all it takes is one good camp for the rookie and one bad camp for the veteran.