Vikings

What’s New For Vikings Fans Is Old Hat For Will Reichard

Photo Credit: Brad Rempel-Imagn Images

A sloppy match between the Minnesota Vikings and New York Jets was nearing its end at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. After building a 17-0 lead, the Vikings had allowed Aaron Rodgers and the Jets to claw their way back into the game. Minnesota’s most productive drive of the second half had just stalled at the Jets’ 23-yard line. Kicker Will Reichard trotted out onto the wet soccer field for a 41-yard field goal that would force the Jets to go for a touchdown to win the game.

In the past, a Vikings kicker would have missed this field goal, giving the Jets life and a short field to tie the game. But Reichard knocked it through the uprights this time to give the Vikings a 23-17 lead they would maintain. He also connected on kicks of 51 and 54 yards earlier in the day. Kevin O’Connell acknowledged Reichard in the team’s postgame locker room speech, giving the kicker a game ball.

“First of all, you’ve got to count on a cold-blooded dude,” O’Connell shouted to the team before embracing Reichard, “that’s gonna walk out there and hit three points from wherever I ask him to!”

Reichard has done just that through five games. He’s perfect on field goals (nine of nine) and extra point attempts (16 of 16), one of only four kickers in the league with that distinction. He’s also the youngest of the four perfect kickers; Matt Prater and Nick Folk are 40. Austin Seibert is 28 and has been in the league since 2019. Reichard has hit three of the seven 50-plus yard attempts among the group.

Reichard’s confidence isn’t surprising to Minnesota’s coaching staff and front office. He entered the 2024 NFL draft after a record-breaking career at Alabama. He was the NCAA all-time points leader (597), hitting all but two of his extra points and 84% of his field goal attempts. The Vikings selected him in the sixth round, leading some fans to cry, We drafted a kicker?!

Kickers have brought much angst and heartache to Vikings fans over the years. If Reichard hits every kick of the season, fans would expect him to collapse like Gary Anderson in the NFC Championship game. If Reichard misses every other kick, he would surely shank a 27-yard field goal to win a Wild Card game. Should he miss all his kicks and get cut, he would sign elsewhere and become one of the league’s best kickers, like Daniel Carlson.

But so far, nothing seems too big for Reichard. He displayed that in Minnesota’s first preseason game. The Vikings were down 23-21 to the Las Vegas Raiders with four seconds remaining. Enthusiasm over J.J. McCarthy’s debut gave the game more energy than the typical preseason game. Reichard had a chance to spoil the party. But he went in, split the uprights, and was mobbed by teammates after his 38-yard field goal gave the Vikings the victory.

He still hasn’t had the opportunity to kick an actual game-winner, but Reichard has continued to hit high-pressure kicks. He hit a 27-yard kick to give the Vikings a nine-point lead against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 2 to put the game out of reach. Two weeks later, he did the same thing to the Packers on a 33-yard kick.

It’s almost as impressive that no kick has been too insignificant for Reichard. The Vikings didn’t need him much when they throttled the New York Giants 28-6 in Week 1. However, he knocked through all four extra points in a stadium with swirling winds.

O’Connell sent him out for a 58-yard attempt late in the fourth quarter of a 31-7 blowout of the Houston Texans. The ball hit the upright but bounced in. A missed field goal wouldn’t have affected the outcome, but making that kick showed teammates and coaches confidence that the Vikings could call upon him anytime and in any situation, and he would come through.

Justin Jefferson calls him a “dawg.” Special teams coordinator Matt Daniels raves about him every week. When asked if Reichard was possibly worried about kicking in Lambeau Field after Green Bay’s kicker, Brayden Narveson, missed two field goals, Daniels said that isn’t something Reichard thinks about.

A reporter asked fellow Alabama rookie Dallas Turner, a first-round selection by Minnesota in this year’s draft, about Reichard’s game-winning kick against the Las Vegas Raiders.

“I’m used to seeing it every week,” Turner said. “Seeing my boy Will Reichard hit that dagger, the little walk-off, so that’s nothing new to me because I played college with him.”

It’s beginning to feel that way for fans when Reichard trots on the field. Outside of one day during training camp, reports were that he hit almost every kick the team asked of him. Reichard isn’t perfect thus far by accident. That means he will approach each kick the same way every time, regardless of the last kick’s result. O’Connell preaches process and preparation, and Reichard encapsulates that.

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