Apparently, a Former Viking Is Crushing It with a Division Rival
This spring, the Minnesota Vikings saw a ton of roster turnover.
From quarterback, to edge rusher, even to kicker, the Vikings are set to be led by a lot of new faces in 2024. As aforementioned, one of the players to leave the Vikings this spring was kicker Greg Joseph, and apparently, Joseph has been lighting it up with his new team which just so happens to be the Vikings’ most hated rival.
Former Viking Crushing It with His New Team
After spending three seasons with the Vikings from 2021-2023, Joseph signed with the Green Bay Packers in free agency this year, thus leaving Minnesota with a void at the position. As a result, the Vikings selected Will Reichard out of Alabama in the sixth round of the 2024 NFL Draft who seems destined to be the kicker as a rookie.
According to SI’s Bill Huber, Joseph has “a big lead” in the kicking battle over incumbent Anders Carlson, who nailed 27 of his 33 field goals last season for Green Bay while making 34 of his 39 extra point attempts.
Carlson, a sixth-round pick in 2023 out of Auburn, ranked 24th out of 33 qualifying kickers in field goal percentage at 81.8%, narrowly edging out Joseph who made 80% of his field goals last season in Minnesota.
Huber went on to explain Joseph’s surge in camp:
“Joseph made all seven field-goal attempts at Thursday’s practice while Carlson missed two. Joseph is now plus-four for camp – 29-of-31 vs. 25-of-31. Joseph has made 93.5 percent of his attempts, which would have tied for seventh in the NFL last season. Carlson has made 80.6 percent of his attempts, which would have ranked 26th last season.”
Huber also mentioned that Joseph hit a 51-yarder and a 58-yarder at the end of practice last Thursday, further separating himself from Carlson, whose career-long field goal make was from 53 yards last season.
Of course, we have to keep in mind that training camp is a much different environment than, say, a road regular season game against Joseph’s former team.
To his credit, Joseph certainly showcased moments of greatness throughout his tenure in Minnesota (his 61-yard game-winner against the New York Giants on Christmas Eve in 2022 comes to mind). However, consistency was always a big knock on the former Vikings kicker.
Joseph made 86.8% of his field goals in 2021, but since then, he was at 78.8% in 2022 and 80% in 2023. Furthermore, inexplicable struggles in extra points during the 2022 season left many Vikings fans rolling their eyes as the kicker left free points on the board six separate times during the campaign.
Ultimately, there is a long ways to go before the kicker battle in Green Bay is settled, but for now, it seems that the former Viking is making his mark. We’ll see if it continues.
Editor’s Note: Statistics for this article were found via Pro Football Reference.
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