By Jordan Long
On Tuesday, the Minnesota Vikings made a move they had to make. They decided to release kicker Blair Walsh. He had been the Vikings kicker for the last five years. They will now go with Kai Forbath.
It seems Walsh didn’t get over last year’s mistake when he missed a 27-yard field goal with 26 seconds left against the Seattle Seahawks in the Wild Card Round. That would have won the game for the Vikings.
This season Walsh struggled to make field goals and PAT’s. He is 12-16 on field goals attempts, good for 75.0%. Walsh has been able to kick field goals between 1 and 29 yards. He is a perfect 2 for 2. Walsh has not been able to kick it through the uprights when pushed back to the 30 to 50+ yard line. There he is 10 of 14 or 71% with a long of 50. Walsh missed 4 extra points, which is the most in the NFL.
The Vikings gave Walsh many opportunities to keep his job. He proved to the coaching staff that he wasn’t reliable. Walsh even cost them a victory against the Lions in week 9 when he missed an extra point and had a field goal blocked. The Vikings lost in overtime 22-16. It was time to move on.
The Vikings signed veteran kicker Kai Forbath to replace Walsh. Forbath has made 84.1% of his kicks, which is about the same as Walsh. The difference is kicks made between 40 and 49 yard line. Forbath is more accurate, making them 83.3% of the time in his career. Walsh on the other hand is only 78.3% from that distance. Forbath can also make extra points only missing three in his career.
This is timely the decision for the Vikings. Forbath is clearly the better kicker on paper. Walsh had chances to keep his job. He cost the Vikings too many games. Hopefully for them Forbath will be able to kick the ball through the uprights and help this team win.
What do you think of the Minnesota Vikings decision to release Blair Walsh and sign Kai Forbath?
Leave a Reply