For the first time since 2021, the Minnesota Vikings will have a new punter when they return to the field in September for the 2026 season.
Ryan Wright left to sign with the New Orleans Saints in free agency earlier this year, and the Vikings signed veteran punter Johnny Hekker shortly after, but the team might still have other plans for the position next season.
On Thursday, NBC Sports Philadelphia's Ryan Fowler revealed that Minnesota is bringing in a very intriguing punting prospect for a workout before next week's NFL Draft gets underway.
"The Minnesota Vikings will hold a private workout with Elon punter Jeff Yurk tomorrow morning, per source.
The FCS’ all-time leader in yards per punt and a two-time first-team FCS All-American, Yurk averaged 58.6 yards per punt at Hula a few months back."
Minnesota Vikings showing interest in All-American punter before 2026 NFL Draft
Jeff Yurk spent his entire college career at Elon, which is also the school where former Vikings 2019 draft pick Oli Udoh attended.
During Yurk's 2025 season at Elon, he punted the football 52 times and averaged 48.3 yards per punt with a long of 74 yards. If he were in the NFL last year, that average would've ranked 11th in the league.
In addition to his planned workout with Minnesota, Yurk has also met with the Baltimore Ravens this offseason, so the Vikings clearly aren't the only team that could be interested in using a draft pick on him next week.
It's been almost a decade since the last time Minnesota selected a punter in the NFL Draft. That happened all the way back in 2017, when the Vikings used a fifth-round pick to select former UCLA punter Jeff Locke.
Including Locke, only a total of five punters have been drafted by Minnesota in the history of the franchise.
Even if they're seriously interested in adding Yurk, don't expect the Vikings to get crazy and use a Day 2 pick in next week's NFL Draft to select him or anything like that.
But Minnesota does currently have three picks in the seventh round this year. So, if he's still available, it wouldn't be shocking if the Vikings used one of their three final-round selections to draft him.
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