Tag: John Parker Romo

Report: Patriots signing promising kicker to practice squad

The Patriots added depth at the kicker position

The New England Patriots are expected to sign kicker John Parker Romo to the practice squad, according to a report by NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo on Tuesday.

Romo played college football for Central Arkansas, Tulsa and Virginia Tech. He was signed by the Vikings back in March, but he was waived in July. The team then re-signed him in November after their starting kicker, Will Reichard, went down with an injury.

That led to Romo making his debut in Week 10 for the Vikings. He made all four of his field goal attempts to help the team defeat the Jacksonville Jaguars.

While filling in for Reichard, he went 11-of-12 on field goal attempts.

Joey Slye is currently the incumbent kicker for the Patriots. He has had a decent year, going 22-of-28 on field goals and making 17-of-18 of his extra points.

The addition of Romo adds depth and perhaps some competition at kicker for the Patriots with just four games left on their regular season schedule.

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Vikings kicker John Parker Romo was staying ready for his chance

Vikings’ kicker John Parker Romo was ready for his first action in the NFL,

It was beginning to feel like the same old story for the Vikings after rookie kicker Will Reichard missed field goals last week in the win over the Colts. But come to find out, the star kicker was injured and would be placed on the Injured Reserve, which meant Minnesota was in need of finding yet another kicker.

In came John Parker Romo. He was with the Vikings this summer and was cut in camp in favor of Reichard, but Romo stayed ready for his chance.

In his first-ever NFL game, Romo scored all 12 points for the Vikings during their 12-7 win over the Jaguars. He nailed kicks of 45, 33, 34, and 29 yards to help the Minnesota defense win the game.

On Monday, Kevin O’Connell told the media the conversation he had with Romo before the game.

“I told him before the game, I said it the night before the game in front of the whole team that we all have confidence in him, and you’re gonna go do your thing,” O’Connell said on Monday. “‘It’s just the same old thing, you’ve done this 10,000 times, but now you’re gonna be doing it to help the Minnesota Vikings win,’ and that’s exactly what he did.”

The Vikings are loading up on former Lions special teamers

Injuries have forced the Vikings to sign former Lions Jake McQuaide and John Parker Romo to face the Jaguars in Week 10

If you can’t beat ’em, try to catch up by joining together some of their discarded players. That seems to be the strategy the Minnesota Vikings are taking with their specialists.

The Vikings have added two former Lions to their roster in kicker John Parker Romo and long snapper Jake McQuaide. Thanks to injuries, Minnesota will be starting both in their Week 10 trip to Jacksonville.

Romo was with the Lions in the 2023 offseason and had some moments in training camp and preseason, but ultimately lost out on the gig to Riley Patterson. McQuaide played the final nine games for the Lions in 2023 after the team lost Scott Daly to injury. The veteran lost his 2024 camp battle with undrafted rookie Hogan Hatten, who has been very sharp in Detroit thus far.

Minnesota signed Romo this week to replace rookie wunderkind Will Reichard. McQuaide was added to the Vikings practice squad, but will take over for injured Andrew DePaolo. He and Romo were never in Detroit together, but the Vikings kicking unit will still have a lot of Lions flavor this week.

Vikings sign kicker John Parker Romo as Will Reichard heads to IR

After announcing on Tuesday that kicker Will Reichard would head to IR, the team announced the signing of kicker John Parker Romo.

The Minnesota Vikings ended their two-game losing streak on Sunday Night Football last week against the Indianapolis Colts, but the win didn’t come without a cost — particularly to the Vikings’ special teams unit.

During the game, the Vikings lost most of their kicking group, as both long snapper Andrew DePaola and kicker Will Reichard suffered significant injuries. The team announced on Tuesday that both players would be headed to injured reserve.

DePaola suffered a hand injury while Reichard strained his right quad during the game. With Reichard heading to injured reserve and the team not having another kicker on the roster, it was inevitable that Minnesota would sign someone. Tuesday afternoon, we learned that someone is John Parker Romo.

Romo’s interesting and winding-kicking journey dates back to his collegiate days. He started his college career with the Central Arkansas Bears, serving as their kickoff specialist and only attempting one field goal on the season, a miss.

After one year at Central Arkansas, Romo transferred to Tulsa. Per NCAA rules (which have since changed), Romo sat out the 2017 season and joined the Tulsa football team as a walk-on for 2018. Romo would once again serve primarily as a kickoff specialist, attempting only five field goals and making just two of them.

After his sophomore season at Tulsa, Romo once again transferred, this time to Virginia Tech, where he spent three seasons. Romo finally became a full-time kicker for the Hokies in his final season, 2021, where he went 34-for-34 on extra point attempts and 18-for-22 on field goals.

Romo was undrafted in the 2022 NFL Draft and signed with the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent. He spent the 2022 season on the Saints’ practice squad, never seeing a regular-season game.

In the spring of 2023, Romo would find himself in the XFL with the San Antonio Brahmas, where he would play in all 10 of their games and make 17 of his 19 field goal attempts. That stint in the XFL earned Romo a tryout with the Detroit Lions. After the tryout, Romo signed with Detroit but was released before the season started.

From there, Romo would land on the Chicago Bears’ practice squad for September before being waived in early October. Now, Romo has landed in Minnesota, where he will finally make his regular-season debut in the league.

It’s been a long road for the journeyman kicker, but he now finds himself on a team that, at least for now, seems destined to make a playoff run. How long Romo will remain the Vikings’ kicker remains to be seen, as we still don’t know the full extent of the Reichard injury, but if Romo can capitalize on his chance, it will make for one heck of a story.

Vikings special teams leaders are now in place following roster moves

The special teams units of the Minnesota Vikings have found their leaders as we head into the final week of the preseason in 2024.

The special teams units of the Minnesota Vikings have found their leaders as we head into the final week of the preseason in 2024. Training camp started with competitions at both the kicking and punting positions and almost three weeks later we have resolutions to those jobs.

For kicking, rookie Will Reichard earned the job early in camp. Meanwhile, Ryan Wright earned the punting job on Monday after the team released Seth Vernon.

Reichard has been phenomenal in training camp and in both preseason games for the Vikings. They drafted the Crimson Tide kicker after letting Greg Joseph leave in free agency, which seemed puzzling at the time. It shows that perhaps we need to give Kwesi Adofo-Mensah more credit for his decision-making.

With the punting job now decided. Ryan Wright can head into the final preseason game knowing he has the job locked up. He will be a part of the final 53-man roster decision.

Will Reichard earns kicker job, follows it up with rough day at Training Camp

Heading into training camp, there was to be a kicker completion between John Parker Romo and Will Reichard, it quickly was won by Reichard.

Heading into training camp, there was to be a kicker competition between John Parker Romo and Will Reichard, and Reichard quickly won. Despite that news coming to him on Monday, he followed it up with a rough Tuesday practice with the team.

According to Leighton Glodek of Strictly, the Vikings 2024 draft pick had difficulty from distance.

Will Reichard was just 1-for-3 on field goals from 50 yards or more. Before the release of John Parker Romo and Reichard’s winning the competition, he had been 5-for-5 at camp kicking. Both misses were wide right, one of which was captured by a fan at training camp.

Vikings fans know how kicking can make or break a game or even a season. In recent memory, the team has had a rough go of it on special teams, especially in the kicker and punter position. When the team drafted Reichard in the sixth round of the 2024 NFL Draft, they hoped he would be the long-term solution.

Time will tell.

Update on the kicking competition from Vikings training camp

There is a kicking competition in Vikings camp and we have an update for you and it appears that there is an early leader in the race.

Of course, the most underrated but exciting part of the football game is the kicking. Okay, maybe not for Vikings fans, given their history. Despite that, there is an open competition for the starting kicking job for the Vikings, and it is worth following after the investment in the position.

According to Will Ragatz of Bring Me News, there has been a clear leader to start training camp for the Minnesota Vikings.

2024 NFL Draft pick Will Reichard out of Alabam has been a perfect five-for-five to start training camp. Meanwhile, free agent signing John Parker Romo has started three-for-four, with the one miss being a wide left mishap.

Whenever a team drafts a kicker, it is often met with questions, ones we asked when the pick was made and analyzed. The position is full of free agent options and other players who could be signed as UDFAs, but if Reichard is proven to be a consistent piece for the team, then perhaps he was worth the pick.

We will leave this discourse open for more down the road.

Vikings agree to terms with former XFL kicker John Parker Romo

The Minnesota Vikings have agreed to terms with former XFL kicker John Parker Romo to hopefully solve their kicking woes.

The Minnesota Vikings have had a need at kicker for quite some time and they have taken a step forward to address the issue.

According to ESPN’s Kevin Seifert, the Vikings agreed to terms with former XFL kicker John Parker Romo to a contract. He is now the only Vikings kicker on the roster with Greg Joseph still a free agent.

Romo last kicked for the XFL (now UFL) franchise San Antonio Brahmas in 2023. In that season, he made 17-of-19 field goals along with being 2-of-3 from 50+ yards.

Romo is likely the first of at least two kickers the Vikings will bring in this year to try and fix their issues at the position.

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Lions add Devine Ozigbo to practice squad on busy Monday for ex-Lions looking for work

Lions add Devine Ozigbo to practice squad on a busy Monday for ex-Lions looking for work

Devine Ozigbo is back on the Detroit Lions practice squad after a brief bout of unemployment. The Lions signed the veteran running back onto the practice squad on Monday after releasing him late last week in the move to sign linebacker Trevor Nowaske to the active roster.

It was a busy Monday on the NFL transaction wire for a lot of former Lions around the league. Specifically, the weekly tryout circuit featured several players who have spent some time in Detroit, including a wave of offensive linemen who played for the Lions this past preseason.

OT Ryan Swoboda – Atlanta Falcons

OT Bobby Hart – San Francisco 49ers

DB Saivion Smith – Tennessee Titans

K John Parker Romo – Titans

K Austin Seibert – Titans

None of the former Lions were signed as of Tuesday morning.

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Lions special teams coach Dave Fipp breaks down the kicking competition

Lions Special teams coach Dave Fipp breaks down the kicking competition between John Parker Romo and Riley Patterson

The Detroit Lions are holding a kicking competition during this training camp. At the last Lions practice session, the man making the most direct decision on the victor got a chance to speak with the media.

Lions special teams coordinator Dave Fipp held a press conference and fielded several questions about the battle between John Parker Romo and Riley Patterson. Fipp, a wily veteran coach, concealed his hand nicely.

“I’m excited about both these guys,” Fipp said before giving due credit to each combatant.

“We have two guys, one who has a lot of talent, leg talent in Romo. So, he has a lot of leg talent, and maybe he needs a little bit more development, but we feel like he’s done a nice job,” Fipp said about the former XFL star.

On Patterson, who the team traded for earlier this offseason and who has some history with the team, Fipp had this to say,

“…the truth is he’s really coming along, and his leg strength’s really increased. He looks really good in the training camp, so I’m really excited about him, and I think sometimes with young players you see that where they bounce around a bit for the first couple years, and then all of a sudden they start to grab ahold of something there. So hopefully, he does that for us, but yeah, I’m encouraged.

No real advantage has developed in the field goal competitions thus far. Romo definitely has the stronger leg, but he’s missed more shorter kicks than Patterson. The latter’s reliable range on field goals barely gets to 50 yards, but he’s been a little better than Romo in the 30-to-45 range.

With that, how much could kickoffs factor into the decision? I asked Fipp about that. He gave a lengthy answer that also noted that an inability to kick off well was one primary reason why the Lions got rid of incumbent kicker Michael Badgley last month.

“The more these guys can do, obviously the better, so how important is the kickoff? I think, personally, it’s important I think a kicker in the National Football League should be able to kickoff at a high level,” Fipp stated. “And then if your punter is fortunate to be able to do that too, you can pick the best one on game day, but someone can say that the kicker position, kicking off isn’t as important now maybe with this fair catch rule and all that, but I would say that if the kicker’s not great at kicking off, they’re not going to fair catch at all, they’re going to be returning it right back at you, so it’s important that you’re good enough.”

Patterson had a touchback rate on kickoffs of 50 percent in 2022 while kicking for the Jaguars and was at 63 percent during his college career. Romo posted a touchback rate of 59 percent in college. During Lions practices, Romo has been superior at booming the ball out of the end zone, though Patterson has demonstrated better control and touch on designed shorter kickoffs.

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