Nov 3, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; A general view of U.S. Bank Stadium before the game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Indianapolis Colts. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images.
In a season filled with seismic twists for the Minnesota Vikings — rookie cornerback Khyree Jackson’s tragic passing, J.J. McCarthy’s season-ending injury, Mekhi Blackmon’s torn ACL, and Christian Darrisaw’s IR fate — the purple team also lost its kicker for at least four games this week.
So, an old friend is in the house to help.
He’s Parker Romo, a would-be kicking solution signed by the Vikings in March before Minnesota drafted Will Reichard, who hit Injured Reserve this week.
NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo tweeted Tuesday, “The Vikings are signing free-agent K John Parker Romo, sources tell me and Tom Pelissero. A former undrafted free agent with the Saints, Romo was with Minnesota this offseason. Now set to make his NFL regular-season debut with the team.”
Until Sunday night, when Reichard injured his quad, the Vikings rookie had kicked perfectly, missing no field goals or extra points. Romo has big shoes to fill. Reichard missed two fields in a win over the Colts, but most believe the quad injury played into those blunders.
Minnesota originally signed Romo in March and, in fact, onlookers were rather optimistic about his upside. Nobody knew the Vikings would later choose Reichard in the draft, so Romo was theorized as the kicking fix.
This is the 27-year-0ld’s football resume to date, though he’s never kicked in a regular season NFL game:
Romo attended three colleges — Central Kansas (2016), Tulsa (2018), and Virginia Tech (2019-2021) — and was a teammate of Christian Darrisaw at Virginia Tech. He was awarded All-XFL Team honors with the Brahmas in 2023 and also finished as that league’s field goal leader.
He has a massive leg, posting videos to social media of himself connecting from 70+ yards out.
Such kicks in practice rarely translate exactly to NFL games, but at the very least, the new specialist should be able to hit comfortably from 50 yards and beyond. Romo booted through 17 of 19 field goals in the XFL last year, with a long of 57 yards.
Kyle Joudry of PurplePTSD, a sister site to VikingsTerritory, wrote about Romo in March: “Parker Romo is 26 and comes in at 5’11”, 188. He began his college career at Tulsa before moving over to Virginia Tech (overlapping with Christian Darrisaw). His final season arrived in 2021. He went 34/34 on his extra points and 18/22 on his field goals. Back in 2019, he even took some reps as a punter, launching 8 punts for 354 yards (44.3 average).”
With any luck, the Vikings will have the best of both worlds with two promising young kickers.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.