Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said that the team would take a look at kickers again this week after opting to stick with Blair Walsh after visiting with members of the free agent kicking caravan last week.
We don’t know which kickers will be coming in this time around, but the Vikings will be hiring someone else to take over for Walsh. The Vikings announced Tuesday that they have released Walsh.
Walsh missed an extra point in last Sunday’s loss to the Redskins, which made it four missed extra points on the year for a kicker who has also missed four field goals this year. Walsh also missed a short field goal that would have won a playoff game for the Vikings last season and it’s hard not to see the line running from that miss through this year’s struggles all the way through Walsh’s reported departure.
Walsh had been the Vikings’ kicker since 2012 and was named a first-team All-Pro by the Associated Press in his rookie season. That past success will likely earn him future looks from teams assessing their kicking options, but Minnesota decided that they’d waited long enough for Walsh to find consistent success this season.