On September 10, Minnesota Vikings special teams coach Matt Daniels made an important announcement.
“I haven’t officially told the team or Will this,” Daniels told the assembled media five days before the Vikings beat the San Francisco 49ers 23-17, “but I was talking with DG that possibly we could call him Will Striker.”
Daniels was referencing Will Reichard, Minnesota’s rookie kicker, and assistant special teams coach Dalmin Gibson. Daniels often has nicknames for his players, including punter Ryan Wright (Mr. Wright) and long-snapper Andrew DePaola (Sir Po).
“He strikes the ball well,” Daniels continued. “And I don’t know if anyone has ever seen the movie Shooter, but Mark Wahlberg’s name in the movie was Striker. So think of Will almost like a sniper.”
So, there are a few things to dissect here.
First, a reporter responded that he immediately thought of Ted Striker from the 1980 comedy Airplane! It’s a funny movie that holds up, albeit with some humor that people may object to in 2024.
However, in Airplane!, Striker is a traumatized war pilot who fears flying. He boards a flight from Los Angeles to Chicago to get his flight attendant girlfriend back, only to take control of the plane after disaster strikes. Striker sweats out the landing.
Early in the film, the lady sitting next to Striker asks him if he’s nervous.
“Yes,” he responds.
“First time?” she asks.
“No, I’ve been nervous lots of times.”
Sweaty and nervous aren’t traits the Vikings want in their kicker.
The second issue with Daniels’ original nickname for Reichard is that it incorrectly references Shooter. While Marky Mark plays a sniper in the film, his character is Bob Lee Swagger.
Finally, Reichard had already established himself as Will the Thrill earlier that day.
In a Vikings Twitter video, Reichard told Josh Metellus that his producer name is Will the Thrill. “Will the Thrill comin’, Will the Thrill comin’,” he says in a borderline creepy cadence.
“That might have been the hardest one,” Metellus tells Reichard, dapping him up while laughing. “I ain’t gonna lie.”
Reichard’s contribution to Metellus’ video went viral. It might be because it looked like Metellus was talking to his friend’s younger brother when he interviewed him. It might be because of how Reichard smiled menacingly into the camera. Perhaps it’s because people loved the nickname.
A week later, Daniels issued a correction.
“Oh, yeah, the nickname, y’all, the nickname,” Daniels told the media as his weekly session ended. “We’re going with Will the Thrill.”
Will the Thrill it is. However, Reichard’s best trait is that he hasn’t been thrilling. He just does his job. He hasn’t missed a field goal (nine for nine) or extra point (16 for 16) all season.
Reichard nailed a 58-yarder in Minnesota’s 34-7 victory over the Houston Texans and converted a short kick on Lambeau Field’s crabgrass. In London, he played on shorter turf lacking the faux dirt that improves grip. He was a perfect three-for-three in a game where players slipped when it started drizzling, including two 50-plus yarders.
In Airplane!, Ted Striker has a flashback to a bar he frequented during the war.
“It was a rough place,” he recalled, “the seediest dive on the wharf. Populated with every reject and cutthroat from Bombay to Calcutta. It’s worse than Detroit.”
The Vikings end their season against the Detroit Lions in Ford Field. Given how Reichard’s season has started, you have to think he’ll convert his kicks there, too. He may look like a coach’s son and have a nickname that evokes excitement, but Reichard seems capable of making kicking look routine, and everyone here would be grateful for that.
