Tag: Kaare Vedvik

CBS Sports ranks Dan Bailey as top-10 kicker heading into 2020

Bailey 27-for-29 on field goals last season, hitting at a 93.1% clip.

The Vikings have had some worries at kicker over the years.

With Dan Bailey on the roster, have they figured it out?

Perhaps. Bailey was 27-for-29 on field goals last season, hitting at a 93.1% clip. Let’s not forget, though, that before Bailey’s success in 2019, the Vikings gave up a fifth-round pick for Kaare Vedvik.

Spoiler alert: That did not work.

Over at CBS Sports, John Breech ranked the top-10 kickers in the NFL. Bailey appeared on the list at No. 7.

Here’s a bit of what Breech wrote about Bailey:

Bailey was so good last season that he didn’t miss a single field goal after Week 7 as he closed the year with 22 consecutive successful kicks, including the playoffs. Including 2019, Bailey has ranked as one of the NFL’s five most accurate kickers in four of his nine seasons, and he’s currently ranked as the sixth-most accurate kicker of all-time.

Of course, we know that things can change quickly in the NFL for a kicker. We’ve seen kickers, like Bailey, go from good to bad to great.

Bailey’s strong 2019 season landed him a three-year, $10 million extension with the Vikings this offseason.

Some Bills specialists working out together in offseason

Buffalo Bills special teamers Reid Ferguson, Tyler Bass, Kaare Vedvik working out together this offseason.

Buffalo Bills long snapper Reid Ferguson recently revealed that he’s doing his part to get together some of his Bills teammates for offseason workouts in the midst of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Last week, a contingent of Bills players from the team’s offense met down in South Florida. Among them were quarterback Josh Allen and new No. 1 receiver Stefon Diggs.

But the special teamers aren’t sitting around, either. Ferguson recently was profiled along with his brother, Blake, in the New York Times. The story explored how the two brothers, both long snappers as Blake was recently drafted by the Dolphins, are prepping for the 2020 season with the tough circumstances going on this NFL offseason due to the pandemic.

In that piece, the two discussed how they’re working together to improve, while also not trying to give away any secrets… considering now they’re both AFC East rivals, after all. But also mentioned is how Ferguson has invited two of his newer Bills comrades to workout with the brothers.

Rookie kicker Tyler Bass drives two hours from South Carolina to meet with the brothers in Smyrna, Ga. Along with Bass, punter Kaare Vedvik is also joining the crew, but took it a step further. He used to drive from Birmingham, Ala, about a two and a half hour trip according to the report, but now Vedvik actually moved to a closer location.

Vedvik signed with the Bills earlier this offseason and will compete with Corey Bojorquez for Buffalo’s punting job. Bass, the team’s sixth-round pick, will compete with Stephen Hauschka for kicking duties. The two new guys appear to be going an extra mile to meetup with some of their new teammates while prepping to hopefully find full-time jobs with the Bills in 2020. But don’t think for a second the two incumbents aren’t working, too. They could all likely be there, but the ongoing pandemic is making travel difficult.

Both of these spots will be training camp battles to watch later this summer for the Bills.

 

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How the Vikings lost the Kaare Vedvik trade with the Ravens

The Vikings trading for Kaare Vedvik has not aged well.

Minnesota, thinking it had a kicker problem, traded away a fifth-round pick for the Ravens’ Kaare Vedvik before the 2019 season.

Vedvik had an impressive showing in limited time with Baltimore, and with the Ravens already having Justin Tucker on the roster, they likely needed to find a trade partner.

That partner was the Vikings, whose kicker, Dan Bailey, was coming off a second consecutive season where he hit only 75% of his field goals.

But then something surprising happened. Bailey beat out Vedvik for the starting position, and Bailey finished the season by hitting more than 93% of his field goals. The Vikings ended up waiving Vedvik before the 2019 season.

To make matters worse for the Vikings, the Ravens ended up flipping Minnesota’s fifth-rounder for Jaguars defensive end Calais Campbell.

Campbell tallied 6.5 sacks last season and is coming off a third consecutive season in which he made the Pro Bowl.

To summarize, the Vikings traded their fifth-round pick for a kicker they didn’t keep, and Baltimore flipped it into a Pro Bowl pass rusher. Whoops…

Ravens effectively flipped K Kaare Vedvik into Pro Bowl pass rusher Calais Campbel

Baltimore Ravens GM Eric DeCosta is a genius after trading for Jacksonville Jaguars’ Calais Campbell with the Vikings’ pick for Kaare Vedvik

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If there were any lingering concerns about how Baltimore Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta was going to perform after taking over for Ozzie Newsome, those should be well shut down now. The Ravens are set to trade a fifth-round pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars in exchange for defensive end Calais Campbell. However, when you look a little closer at what pick that actually was, it’s pretty shocking.

Baltimore only had one fifth-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, which comes thanks to the Minnesota Vikings trading for kicker Kaare Vedvik last season. That means DeCosta effectively turned an extra kicker — who the Vikings didn’t end up keeping anyway — into a Pro Bowl pass rusher they desperately needed. Um, excuse me!?

It’s not the first time DeCosta has turned a late-round pick into something extraordinary. In the middle of last season, Baltimore traded a fifth-round pick and struggling linebacker Kenny Young to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for cornerback Marcus Peters. Peters went on to have an All-Pro season as one of the best cornerbacks in the league, earning a three-year contract extension from the Ravens as a result.

The move helps solidify Baltimore’s biggest hole from last season and should further transform a defense that finished fourth in yards allowed and third in points allowed into an even better unit next season. When teamed up with the Ravens’ league-leading scoring offense led by quarterback Lamar Jackson, it could firmly put Baltimore on the path towards their third Super Bowl win. More importantly, it fills the Ravens’ biggest roster need without dropping an early-round pick. Meaning Baltimore could still look to the first three rounds for an impact pass rusher but now don’t necessarily have to, giving them a little more freedom in the 2020 NFL Draft.

The Ravens are going to have to start throwing around the term “In EDC we believe” a little more often now.

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5 kickers the Jets should avoid in free agency

Jets Wire takes a look at five free-agent kickers Joe Douglas should avoid.

Kicking was a disaster for the Jets in 2019.

Between Chandler Catanzaro retiring out of the blue, Kaare Vedvik missing two kicks on opening day and Sam Ficken being hit or miss the rest of the way, the Jets failed to kick with consistency last season.

Ficken, who only made 70.4 percent of his field goals for the Jets, going 19-27 in addition to going 23-26 on extra-point attempts. In total, he missed 11 kicks and hindered the Jets more than he helped. Ficken, an exclusive rights free agent, will likely be let go, as the Jets signed former Dallas Cowboys kicker Brett Maher to a reserve/futures deal in December.

That said, the Jets still need to bring in kicking competition for Maher, whether it comes from free agency or the draft. However, there are some kickers the Jets should avoid at all costs. Let’s take a look.

Adam Vinatieri

(Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images)

Father time has finally caught up to the greatest kicker the sport has ever seen.

In 2019, Adam Vinatieri hit just 68 percent of his field goals while costing Colts three different games. For a team that finished 7-9, that was the difference between missing the playoffs and potentially winning the AFC South Division title.

Vinatieri has played 24 seasons in the NFL, only playing for two teams in the process. Although the future Hall of Famer has spent the past 14 seasons in Indianapolis, he will hit the open market. There is no guarantee he will return to the Colts for a 15th season.

With Vinatieri’s best days clearly behind him, he shouldn’t be anywhere near the Jets’ radar. Vinatieri may still want to kick, ending his storied career on his own terms. If that’s the case, it shouldn’t be in New York.

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4 free agent kickers the Jets should target

Here are four free agent kickers the Jets should target in free agency.

After a revolving door of kickers came through One Jets Drive in 2019, New York is in the market for a legman once again.

The Jets planned on Chandler Catanzaro being their starting place kicker last season, but he decided to retire during training camp. Then came Kaare Vedvik, who lasted all of one game for the Jets. They finished the season with Sam Ficken, who had his ups and downs and is now an impending free agent.

Kicking was a huge problem for the Jets in 2019 and they need to find stability at the position. They can’t lose games because of their kicker missing an extra point or field goal.

So, let’s take a look at what kickers New York can target in free agency.

Ka’imi Fairbairn

Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Ka’imi Fairbain is one of the youngest available kickers and he has been pretty consistent over his three-year career.

Fairbain has made at least 80 percent of his field goals in three seasons with the Texans. His best season came in 2018 when he went 37-42 on field goal attempts. Last season, Fairbain didn’t get as many opportunities, but was 20-25.

The only concern with Fairbain is kicking from 50+ yards out. In 2019, Fairbain made 50 percent of his field goals from 50 or more yards. He was better from that distance the two previous years at 66.7 and 75 percent.

At 26 years old, Fairbain would be a solid get for the Jets. He won’t come cheap, but if the Jets want to have a consistent kicker, then they should pay Fairbain what he’s worth.

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Jets Free Agent Profile: What to do with K Sam Ficken?

Here’s a free agent profile of what the Jets should do with kicker Sam Ficken.

Before Joe Douglas can focus on who he plans to target in free agency come March, he’ll have a handful of in-house decisions to make.

The Jets have 32 players set to hit the open market this offseason. Some don’t figure to factor into New York’s plans for 2020, while it’s safe to assume the Jets would like to keep others around for a while. Either way, Douglas has a lot of work to do in his first offseason on the job.

Sam Ficken was an early season acquisition by the Jets after they moved on from Kaare Vedvik. It was a short-term kicker fix for the Jets that didn’t go very well. But if the Jets want to keep someone around that they’re familiar with, then Ficken is an option.

Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of holding onto Ficken for the 2020 season.

Pros of keeping him

There’s no denying that Ficken had a bad 2019 season, but keep in mind it was the first year he actually kicked a full season.

Ficken was 19-27 on field goal attempts and 23-26 on extra points. He struggled in field goals of 40 or more yards but was strong in kicks under 40 yards. However, there was improvement toward the end of the regular season. Three of the last six games Ficken was 100 percent on his field goal attempts.

So if the Jets believe that his end of year success can translate into next season, then it might warrant his return.

Cons of keeping him

The consistency and inability to kick long field goals hurts Ficken’s possibility of coming back next season.

He was just 10-17 on field goals of 40 or more yards in 2019. It’s not that he didn’t have the leg for them, but his accuracy was not very strong. His longest made field goal of the season came from 54 yards out, which in today’s NFL is not too far.

You simply can’t have kickers who are inconsistent and can’t kick long-range field goals in the NFL anymore, so it might be time to find a kicker who can.

The Verdict

More likely than not, the Jets are going to try to bring in a new kicker for 2020. You can’t have a revolving door of kickers keep coming in when things start to go south. While kicker is not a sexy position, they can be the difference between a win and a loss.

Ficken is an exclusive rights free agent, meaning the Jets only have to offer him the minimum in free agency. But it’s time to look for some stability at the position and bring someone in who can actually kick on a consistent basis.

Vikings should bring back K Dan Bailey in 2020

In his second season with the club, Dan Bailey was 27-for-29 on field goals, connecting at a 93.1 percent clip.

Remember when we thought the answer to the Vikings’ kicking problem was Kaare Vedvik?

Ah, memories.

For all the ups and downs the Vikings have had at kicker through the years, the 2019 season was a pretty smooth ride.

In his second season with the club, Dan Bailey was 27-for-29 on field goals, connecting at a 93.1 percent clip, just 0.7 off of his career high. That mark also ranked fourth in the NFL.

Bailey, 31, is a free agent this offseason but it would be a huge surprise if the Vikings didn’t bring him back — or at least try to. Bailey doesn’t have the biggest leg and he did miss four extra points in 2019, but for a team that has gone through so much at the position, we can look past all of that.

It would seem silly to draft a kicker considering the Vikings are already down a fifth-round pick for acquiring Vedvik last August.

Vikings to draft 25th overall in 2020 1st round

The last time the Vikings picked 25th was back in 2013 when they drafted Xavier Rhodes.

Now that the divisional round is over and the Vikings are eliminated from playoff contention, we know the Vikings will pick 25th overall in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

The last time the Vikings picked 25th was back in 2013 when they drafted Xavier Rhodes. Ironically, they could be drafting his replacement seven years later.

The Vikings also selected defensive tackle Chris Hovan (2000), defensive tackle James White (1976), defensive end Mark Mullaney (1975), tackle Steve Riley (1974) and guard John Ward (1970) with the 25th overall in team history.

Other notable players taken 25th-overall in NFL history include Ted Washington, Vontae Davis and Dont’a Hightower.

The Vikings have a selection in the first, second, third, fourth and six rounds, along with two seventh-round pick. They don’t have their fifth-round pick after trading for Kaare Vedvik in preseason.

Kaare Vedvik to battle for two spots on Bills

Buffalo Bills K/ P Kaare Vedvik to battle for two spots on roster.

The Bills signed kicker Kaare Vedvik to a futures/ reserves contract this week, adding him to the team’s kicking room for the 2020 offseason and training camp.

Vedvik is an interesting player because he has experience as both a place kicker and punter. He actually kicked against the Bills in Week 1 for the Jets, missing two kicks in the 17-16 win for the Bills.

Perhaps because of that, when Vedvik signed, the team announced he’d be battling with Corey Bojorquez for punting duties next season. However, there’s another battle Vedvik will apply for.

According to a post on social media via Vedvik’s agent, the free agent signee will also compete for the Bills’ kickoff duties as well.

Here’s that post from Vedvik’s agent via Bills Wire contributor Bradley Gelber:

This past season, Stephen Hauschka struggled with place-kicking duties early. But at the end of the season and in the playoffs, he turned it on. He converted a game-tying 47-yard kick in the playoff in a game he went 4-for-4 on kicks.

But perhaps the Bills could stand to improve on kickoffs. Buffalo’s team touchback percent in 2019 was 58.02 percent, good for 17th in the NFL.

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