Mike Priefer: Jeff Locke Is The Guy (Right Now)
Adam Warwas
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If Vegas took bets on which player on a roster was most likely to be replaced in training camp (maybe Vegas does that, I don’t know) the front runner on the Minnesota Vikings roster would be punter Jeff Locke.
If Locke looks over his shoulder in Mankato, he will not see another punter eager to take his job. He is the only punter there, in fact, but that doesn’t mean he cannot be replaced. Both he and special teams coordinator Mike Priefer made that clear this week.
“He’s got to have a good camp here or we’ll end up bringing in competition,” Priefer said. “But for right now, it’s Jeff.”
As Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press pointed out on Monday, the Vikings tried out two undrafted punters earlier this offseason and could still bring one into camp if Locke doesn’t get a little closer to being the guy they thought they drafted 155th overall in 2013.
The two punters that the Vikings tried out were Taylor Symmank out of Texas and Nick O’Toole from West Virginia. According to Tomasson, the Vikings went so far as to have Symmank stick around for an extra day to take a physical and have stayed in contact with him. That little tidbit should tell us all we need to know about Priefer’s actual confidence in Locke’s abilities.
However, since Locke is also Blair Walsh’s holder on field goals, each day that passes would seemingly make it less and less likely that the Vikings make a sudden switch. After all, the field goal thing is reportedly going very well this summer with Walsh hitting 92% of his 250 practice attempts.
Still, holding on long snaps is a secondary job function for Locke, and he needs to be an improved punter pronto. Locke’s net average of 37.8 yards last season is well below the 40.0 yard average that Priefer wants to see and it sounds like the coaches have been monitoring his progress closely this offseason.
“We went through the spring hoping Jeff would have a good spring, and he really did. So we decided we were going to go with one (punter) right now,” Priefer said.
The two undrafted guys mentioned above, along with Australian undrafted punter Tom Hackett, make up plenty of indirect competition as Jeff Locke sees it.
“Priefer told me that I’m battling every other guy on the street every day,” Locke said.