Vikings kicker competition appears to be over after recent move

On Thursday, the Minnesota Vikings made the decision to waive undrafted rookie kicker Jack Podlesny in order to make room on their roster for another signing. With the move, Greg Joseph is currently the only kicker on the Vikings' roster.

It's possible that Minnesota could still bring in another kicker in the near future. But for now, it seems that Joseph has won this year's Vikings kicking competition.

The roster move is a bit of a surprise since Minnesota special teams coordinator Matt Daniels said earlier this week that Podlesny was going to have a chance to attempt some kicks during this Saturday's preseason game against the Tennessee Titans.

Obviously, that's not going to happen anymore unless the Vikings make another roster move in order to bring back the rookie kicker.

Taking Podlesny's place on Minnesota's roster is undrafted rookie running back Aaron Dykes, who spent his college career at the University of Richmond.

After bringing in multiple free-agent running backs for visits during the last few days, including veterans Kareem Hunt and Mike Davis, the Vikings are going with Dykes. In addition to providing more depth in their running back room, Dykes can also add value on special teams, specifically as a returner.

In 42 games at Richmond, Minnesota's new rookie running back returned a total of 73 kickoffs, averaging 24.7 yards per return, and he returned three of them for touchdowns. Dykes also scored a total of 24 offensive touchdowns during his college career, in addition to averaging five yards per touch.

His arrival should raise some eyebrows about the current status of Vikings running back Kene Nwangwu. This summer, Nwangwu was expected to compete for Minnesota's No. 2 running back job, but he's missed a significant amount of practice time in training camp due to an undisclosed injury, and now, his spot on the team's final 2023 roster is in question.

Have we already seen Nwangwu take his final snap in a regular-season game for the Vikings? Thursday's signing certainly makes it seem like Minnesota is at least preparing for the possibility of moving on from the veteran running back.