The Minnesota Vikings probably believed they found the solution to their place-kicking problems when they traded a fifth-round pick to the Baltimore Ravens for Kaare Vedvik earlier in the month.
But maybe they didn’t.
Vedvik made his Vikings debut on Saturday, and proceeded to miss both (yep, both!) of his field goal attempts in Saturday’s preseason exhibition against the Cardinals. And while I would normally point out something about Vedvik making both extra-point attempts possibly salvaging the day, that didn’t seem to impress his head coach very much.
“Since we brought Vedvik in, (punter Matt) Wile’s been punting good and (place-kicker Dan) Bailey’s been kicking good,” Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer said, via TwinCities.com/Pioneer Press. “Then Vedvik goes in there and misses field goals, so I’m at a loss on that.”
I’m sure Zimmer is thrilled about being perplexed after his team’s front office traded a fifth-round pick (with no strings attached, mind you) for a kicker outside of the building when two in-house options have performed well since the new guy’s arrival.
Vedvik’s first miss was a 43-yard attempt that sailed wide left and was never close to being good at any point of its trajectory. His other miss was a 54-yarder that was pushed right in the fourth quarter. No wonder Zimmer was miffed enough to pass on letting Vedvik kick a third PAT, opting to try a two-point conversion attempt in a preseason game. To be fair, long-range misses are going to happen, but they shouldn’t happen frequently when you’re kicking indoors.
The Bears were rumored to be interested in trading for Vedvik before the Ravens sent him packing, and I was a bit curious to see if they would still be interested in him if he hit the market on the off chance Dan Bailey beat him out for the job. But between that performance and what Eddy Piñeiro showed on Saturday (while also kicking indoors), I’m not as intrigued as I was before.