'Holy Hell': Vikings rookie already looking extremely impressive

Kicking is definitely a sore subject for Minnesota Vikings fans. It's a position group that has provided the Vikings fan base with plenty of memories, but about 90 percent of these memories are gut-wrenchingly terrible.

So, when Minnesota decided to use a sixth-round pick on former Alabama kicker Will Reichard in this year's NFL Draft, plenty of eyebrows unsurprisingly raised in reaction to the selection.

With there not being as much media access to the Vikings' OTA practices as there is for the team's training camp, we haven't really heard too much about how Reichard has been performing this spring. Well, two local beat reporters recently filled that void when they shared what they saw from the Minnesota kicker earlier this week.

Minnesota Vikings rookie kicker Will Reichard is "like a robot"

Given the success of a number of undrafted kickers throughout NFL history (Justin Tucker, Adam Vinatieri, Robbie Gould, to name a few), it's completely fair to question a team whenever they decide to use a draft pick on a kicker.

But based on some of the info that was recently shared, it seems like the Vikings might have landed a great kicker in this year's draft.

During a recent episode of the "Purple Insider" podcast, Purple Insider's Matthew Coller and the Pioneer Press's Dane Mizutani couldn't stop raving about what they saw from Reichard out on the practice field earlier this week.

Coller began the discussion with the following comments.

"Holy hell. That's it. That's the analysis, and I mean that in a good way.

...Oh my gosh. He just kicks the heck outta the ball. He was kicking 55-yarders that were going at the top of the goalposts.

And then, even when they lined up everybody, he kicked it from the logo, which would be 60 yards, and there's a net behind it, so there's the two points you kind of look at to give you an idea of how well he kicked it. There's the goalpost, obviously, and then there's a net behind it.

His 60-yard kick cleared everything and still landed in the net that [was] like five, seven yards behind it."

Mizutani then contributed to the conversation by raving even more about what they saw from Minnesota's rookie kicker this week.

"He's like a robot. And, and I wasn't out there every OTA, every day of mandatory mini-camp tracking kicks because like you said, when we're outdoors, a lot of times the specialists just chill. They just hang out, the three of them, the four of them, all together.

But it did seem, and I'd be willing to go out on this limb, I don't know if he missed a kick that I was watching [on Wednesday], and if he did, he didn't miss many."

Now, it's still very early, but if Vikings fans want to be excited about the team's new kicker, it seems safe to do so at this point in time. However, there is a big difference between nailing kicks in an empty indoor practice facility and pressure-packed field-goal attempts in front of 60,000 people during an actual NFL regular season game.

No one will blame a Minnesota fan if their past kicker scars prevent them from feeling delighted about the team's rookie kicker in the middle of June. But based on some of the comments from Coller and Mizutani, the Vikings might have actually found the guy to potentially solve the franchise's never-ending kicking woes.

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