Tag: Kaare Vedvik

Jaguars add specialist to complete practice squad

The Jags completed their practice squad by adding the specialist who has bounced around throughout his career.

Jacksonville added the final piece to its practice squad on Thursday, as specialist Kaare Vedvik signed with the team. Vedvik, originally from Norway, played college football at Marshall and started his career as an undrafted free agent with the Baltimore Ravens. He has since bounced around the league and has one career appearance.

That came in a 2019 game for the New York Jets, in which he missed an extra point attempt and a 45-yard field goal. Vedvik spent the 2020 season with Buffalo, Carolina, and Washington.

Though Jacksonville has one of the best specialist groups in the NFL with Josh Lambo and Logan Cooke, Vedvik is capable of playing both kicker and punter, giving him some versatility as a practice squad option.

The Jags have already signed a number of preseason contributors to the practice squad, including receivers Phillip Dorsett II and Laquon Treadwell. With the addition of Vedvik, the practice squad is now full and Jacksonville will not be able to add more players unless it releases someone or a player is signed to an active roster.

Panthers 2020 training camp: Kaare Vedvik takes all the kicker reps at practice

Panthers 2020 training camp: Kaare Vedvik kicking field goals now.

A clear theme has been established for the Carolina Panthers at training camp this year: the more you can do, the better. Young hybrid defenders like Jeremy Chinn and Troy Pride Jr. have been getting a lot of attention lately. That extra focus on versatility extends to the specialists, as well.

At today’s practice Kaare Vedvik took all the punter and kicker reps, including field goal attempts.

Vedvik has done both in his career. Since joining Carolina he had just been splitting reps with rookie punter Joseph Charlton, though.

While this is interesting, it doesn’t necessarily mean that kicker Joey Slye should be worried about his job security. He at least has a season of experience. Charlton could be another story, though. The rookie has booted a couple of punts over the wall at camp, which may have led to the team picking Vedvik up off waivers from the Bills.

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Panthers 2020 training camp: 4 takeaways from Tuesday’s practice

Panthers 2020 training camp: 4 takeaways from Tuesday’s practice.

The Panthers have finished another training camp practice. Today’s session was another 11-on-11 heavy program.

Here are four takeaways from the media.

Kaare Vedvik takes all the punts

Rookie punter Joseph Charlton has demonstrated a powerful leg at camp. However, he’s had a couple oh-boy moments by booting two punts over the side wall. Last week, the team added former Bills punter Kaare Vedvik off waivers. Today, he took all of the punts.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that Vedvik will be taking the job and Charlton will get cut. It’s only one day and there’s still time for either to prove themselves. Charlton was still holding for Joey Slye in warmups.

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Panthers waive RB Jordan Scarlett to make room for new punter/kicker

Today, the Panthers announced they have waived running back Jordan Scarlett.

The Carolina Panthers claimed former Buffalo Bills punter/kicker Kaare Vedvik off waivers a few days ago. Now that he’s passed the COVID-19 protocols, the team had to make room for Vedvik on the roster. Today, the Panthers announced they have waived running back Jordan Scarlett.

Scarlett was one of several potential roster cuts on offense we identified last week. He was picked by Carolina in the fifth round of last year’s NFL draft – a selection that never made a ton of sense given the team’s other personnel needs and the presence of Christian McCaffrey, who would go on to tally a league-high 403 touches in 2019. Meanwhile, Scarlett only played eight offensive snaps as a rookie. In a year when pro experience is critical, that low number along with no preseason games cost him dearly.

The players who benefit most from Scarlett getting cut are Reggie Bonnafon and Mike Davis, the other main contenders to be McCaffrey’s backup in 2020.

As for Vedvik, to earn a spot on the roster he’ll have to beat out rookie punter Joseph Charlton, who has a hell of a leg but also has booted a couple punts over the wall at practice.

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Panthers add kicker/punter Kaare Vedvik off waivers

Not only has a fresh coaching regime resulted in an influx of new faces into Carolina this offseason, but it’s also brought along a wave of new feet to the roster as well. The latest addition to the Panthers’ special team unit was made official late …

Not only has a fresh coaching regime resulted in an influx of new faces into Carolina this offseason, but it’s also brought along a wave of new feet to the roster as well.

The latest addition to the Panthers’ special team unit was made official late Thursday afternoon when the team announced that they claimed Norwegian utility leg Kaare Vedvik off waivers. The 26-year-old, who spent his most recent stint with the Buffalo Bills, is listed as both a kicker and a punter.

Vedvik was first signed by the Baltimore Ravens in 2018 as an undrafted free agent out of Marshall University, where he averaged 44.0 yards per punt in his senior campaign while converting on 10 of his 16 field goal attempts and 41 of his 42 extra point tries. He’d connect on all four of his field goal attempts for Baltimore in their preseason opener that year and would go on to average 55.5 yards per punt on two boots the preseason after.

After being traded to the Minnesota Vikings for a fifth-round pick on Aug. 11 of 2019, Vedvik was waived and subsequently claimed by the New York Jets on Sept. 1. This is where he’d record his only official NFL stats, a missed extra point and a missed 45-yard field goal attempt in a 17-16 season-opening loss to the Bills. He was, again, waived nine days later.

With usual starter Michael Palardy out for the 2020 season due to a torn ACL and rookie Joseph Charlton, um, failing to impress, this signing brings extra competition to the punting scene and perhaps some versatility to the group. Even with kicker Joey Slye securing starting kicking duties with Graham Gano gone, Vedvik could serve as a big leg on kickoffs and/or long distance field goal tries if needed.

4 things to know about new Bills punter Lachlan Edwards

Get to know new Buffalo Bills punter Lachlan Edwards here.

There’s a new punter in town, and he’s a long ways away from home. The Buffalo Bills announced on Wednesday that former Jets punter Lachlan Edwards was signed by the team.

Edwards, 29, spent the last four seasons with New York, so his name comes as one you’ve likely seen before. But the most interesting part about him is his Australian roots as a native of Mornington, Victoria.

Let’s get to that and more by getting to know the new Bills punter now. Here’s four things to know about Edwards:

The numbers for the draft pick

It’s a bit of a rarity in the NFL, but kickers do get selected at the draft. Edwards had exactly that happen to him. In 2016, the Jets selected Edwards with a seventh-round pick out of Sam Houston State.

Since then, Edwards has had some positive displays in the NFL. But Edwards was picked by a former front office regime leading Gang Green and their current one, led by general manager Joe Douglas, selected Texas A&M punter Braden Mann at the recent draft so it was clear Edwards was destined to not return to New York.

With the Jets, Edwards averaged 45.5 yards per punt and had 108 punts inside the 20-yard line in 2020. In his four-year career, he’s captured the three-highest net punt averages in Jets history. He was the NFL punting yards leader in 2019 as well with 3,991.

But punting is complex, so there’s plenty of other numbers to consider with Edwards, too. He had a career-high 41.6 net punting average last season, which was the 12th best in the league. If you’re looking for fancy stats, Football Outsides gave the Jets the fourth-highest punting DOVA number a year ago, 10.1. The Bills had the fourth-worst at -9.4.

Edwards came a long way in his brief career so far as well. He finished his rookie season last in the league in net punting average (37.3) and 28th in yards per punt (43.1). So he’s a guy that will work to improve his craft, certainly.

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Bills release Kaare Vedvik, sign P Lachlan Edwards

Buffalo Bills sign new punter during 2020 training camp.

The Buffalo Bills are done with one old Jets international punter and are signing… another international ex-Jets punter. The team announced on Wednesday that punter Lachlan Edwards was added to the roster.

In a corresponding move, punter Kaare Vedvik (born in Norway) was released by the team after only three days of full training camp practice. On Tuesday the Bills had worked out Edwards along with former Falcons punter Matt Bosher, according to the NFL’s daily workout log.

Edwards, a seventh-round pick of the Jets in 2016, spent the past four seasons with Gang Green. He’s averaged 45.5 yards per punt. The 29-year-old is a native of Australia. Edwards and Vedvik were teammates together with the Jets for a short time in last season.

Edwards will join the Bills looking to beat the team’s incumbent punter Corey Bojorquez for the team’s starting spot. Bojorquez, a left-footed kicker, has played for the Bills since 2018.

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Bills hold workouts with free agent punters

Buffalo Bills host two punters for free agent workouts.

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The Bills entered training camp with a few legs the coaching staff is keeping a close eye on. Specifically, there’s two punters battling for the team’s starting job in 2020.

Corey Bojorquez is the team’s left-footed incumbent while Kaare Vedvik, who’s also tried his hand at placekicking in the NFL, is the other. But there might be a chance that the Bills bring some more fresh blood in.

According to the NFL’s daily report on team workouts, the Bills hosted two punters for workouts on Tuesday. Those two were Lachlan Edwards and Matt Bosher.

Edwards, a seventh-round pick of the Jets in 2016, spent the past four seasons with Gang Green. He’s averaged 45.5 yards per punt. The twist with Edwards? The 29-year-old is a native of Australia.

Bosher, 32, has a few more years of experience on Edwards. He was also a former drafted kicker as well, a sixth-round pick of the Falcons back in 2011. Bosher has a career average of 45.7 yards per punt. In 2019, he was held to five games played due to a groin injury.

Worth noting, this doesn’t exactly mean that the Bills don’t like Bojorquez and/ or Vedvik. Teams often will workout players to keep them in mind later down the road, too. That could be cause of an injury, or perhaps because a season en route comes with no preseason games due to a global pandemic. If the Bills do pick Bojorquez or Vedvik but their efforts are poor in the regular season, except these two new workouts to also be on the team’s radar as replacements.

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How Bills’ kicking battle is going down during quarantined training camp

Buffalo Bills special teams coordinator discusses kicking battle with Stephen Hauschka, rookie Tyler Bass.

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Don’t envy Buffalo Bills special teams coordinator Heath Farwell this training camp.

When the 2020 preseason was cancelled due to safety concerns in regard to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, bubble players, undrafted rookies and everyone in between certainly had cause for concern. Those guys really need the exhibition snaps to show what they can do.

But some of those situations for say… a cornerback, can be simulated in practice. How about a kicker, though? There’s really nothing like a stadium setting, and Farwell is in charge of making the Bills’ tough kicking decisions this training camp.

At punter, it’s former kicker Kaare Vedvik coming for Corey Bojorquez and his job. At placekicker, rookie sixth-round  pick Tyler Bass is hoping to upend Stephen Hauschka. Farwell, chatting on Sunday via video conference from Bills training camp, knows he has some hard choices to make, namely at kicker.

“There’s a big difference,” Farwell said, discussing Hauschka and Bass. “One is… a 13-year veteran with leadership ability, consistency, and a proven record to make them in games and make them in big games. The other kid is ultra talented. young leg, is hungry, he’s a big talent, but is unproven to this point without a preseason game.”

So, what can the Bills do? Well really, just the best they can… and hope for the best.

“We’ll try to put him in all those stressful situations… bringing them up at the end of practice, bring them up in the middle of practice, get everyone around them, put pressure on them if we can,” Farwell said. “Put them against each other, back-to-back kicks. A lot of the times we’ll give them the same exact kick and there’s a reason for it. Let’s see… kind of going back-and-forth… we do that with the punters, too. It’s like, how can we put them in those pressure situations? You see the guy in front of you make a good punt, or a good kick, and what can you do?”

Earlier this offseason, Bills general manager Brandon Beane discussed the kicking battle. In doing so, he mentioned some vfor them. Make a kick with your teammates watching? Shorter practice today, maybe no meetings, the GM suggested.

All are good ideas, but it’s still going to be difficult. It appears the Bills want a kicker with better leg strength. That’s what Bass has and what Hauschka has lacked, recently. While Hauschka is the record-holder for consecutive kicks made over 50 yards, he’s dropped off since earning that in 2017. In 2019, Hauschka was 1-for-5 from beyond 50 yards.

Unfortunately for Hauschka, what seems to have changed came via an injury.

In December 2018, Hauschka caught a blindside hit from Jets defender Henry Anderson. He was fined and Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott had a candid moment in response to what happened, claiming there’s “no place in football” for such incidents.

Hauschka has struggled since taking that hit. But the veteran offers consistency in closer kicks. He made four from inside 50 during Buffalo’s playoff loss to the Texans.

Earlier this offseason, Farwell did say it was Hauschka’s job and Bass has to earn it. At this point, with no preseason games, we might not have any hint of which way the Bills are going to go with their pick, but regardless, if it’s not the right one, it’s going to be a criticized decision.

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Bills training camp preview: Special teams

2020 Buffalo Bills training camp preview: special teams

The Buffalo Bills are a few short weeks away from arriving for training camp in Western New York. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the preseason festivities will be diminished; the team will not hold their sessions at St. John Fisher College, their training camp location since 2000.

Nevertheless, the aim of the training camp remains the same. The organization must prepare players for the preseason, which depth players will compete in their final battle for a roster spot.

Training camp could hold greater importance this year, as the trimmed down preseason slate leaves fewer opportunities for players to impress the coaching staff.

The Bills Wire will complete a position-by-position analysis of each group on the Bills roster. This edition will focus on the special teams unit:

Bills wide receiver Andre Roberts. Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports

Players (age)

  • Stephen Hauschka (35: 13th season)
  • Tyler Bass (23: Rookie)
  • Corey Bojorquez (23: 3rd season)
  • Kaare Vedvik (26: 2nd season)
  • Reid Ferguson (26: 4th season)

2019 recap

The Bills special teams unit underwent a bit of a reconfiguration entering the 2019 season, as coordinator Danny Crossman was jettisoned and Heath Farwell was brought in to guide the unit. The team improved upon their performance last year, as they seemed to commit fewer egregious errors on coverage than previous seasons.

The Bills improved to sixth in average yards kick return and 14th in average yards per punt return. Bringing in 2018 All-Pro Andre Roberts helped the cause, and the veteran was named to the Pro Bowl last year for the second consecutive year. Roberts dropped off from his career-year in 2018, when he led the league in punt and kick return average. Nevertheless, he finished fourth in the league in kick return average and helped give the Bills some consistency in the return game.

Stephen Hauschka hit 22 of 28 field goals last year, which was the same stat line that he had in 2018. He went through a lull mid-year, highlighted by struggles against the Browns. However, the veteran rebounded to have a decent year. He made only one of five kicks from beyond 50 yards last year, though. Hauschka, at one point, set the NFL record for most 50-plus yard kicks in a row, only to now struggle in that department.

The Bills love Corey Bojorquez‘s big leg, but issues of consistency plagued the 23-year-old in his first full season in the league. He averaged 41.9 yards per punt, good for 30th out of 31 qualified punters. In total, 10 punters had a net average that was better than Bojorquez’s gross average.

Now here’s a rundown of storylines to follow in this position group:

Can Stephen Hauschka stave off a challenge from rookie Tyler Bass?

The big question right here. Hauschka was 21st in field goal percentage last year. He was 20th in the number of touchbacks on kickoffs. He made only one of five kicks from beyond 50 yards. Hauschka had a rough game against the Browns, missing both of his kicks in a game decided by three points. However, he rebounded to make 14 of his final 15 field goals on the year.

While often defending Hauschka’s misses the Bills decided to surprise us. Buffalo, in drafting a kicker, could be a sign that there are some concerns regarding Hauschka. Rookie Tyler Bass could be a kickoff specialist in the short term, but if he can show some greater accuracy, it could make the competition during training camp very interesting. Bass and his big leg certainly shows the Bills don’t want to worry from around 50 yards anymore.

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