Tag: Ryan Wright

Madden ratings for every Vikings specialist

Madden rankings for the Minnesota Vikings specialists are fine, but not great.

On Monday, the first batch of Madden 24 rankings and the first 99 overall in this year’s game were released.

They are currently releasing two position groups per day and started with wide receivers and safeties. On Tuesday, they released edge rushers and defensive tackles. On Wednesday, they ranked the offensive lineman and the running backs. On Thursday, they started with the tight end and cornerback rankings. On Friday, they started with the quarterbacks and inside linebackers. We finish things off with the specialists.

Vikings 90-man roster player profile: P Ryan Wright

Minnesota Vikings punter Ryan Wright won the job in training camp last year. Can he improve on a solid rookie season?

Welcome to the beginning of our 2023 season preview content!

Over the next few weeks, we will be looking at each player on the roster in-depth with backgrounds and how they currently project forward on the Minnesota Vikings roster.

What is the best-case scenario? What is the worst-case scenario? What should we expect from them during the preseason and beyond? We will break all of that down here.

As a staff, all of us at Vikings Wire ranked the entire 90-man roster 1-90 and will be releasing player profiles in reverse order.

66 days until Vikings season opener: Every player to wear No. 66

With 66 days remaining until the start of the season, we take a look at everyone who’s worn No. 66 for the Vikings.

It’s the final countdown…

Well, sort of.

The Minnesota Vikings will kick off their 2023 regular season in 67 days at home against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sept. 10.

From now until then, we will take a trip down memory lane and count each day by revisiting the players that have worn that specific jersey number.

The last Viking to wear 66 was punter Ryan Wright and there was a 24-year gap with players who wore the number.

With 66 days until kickoff, here’s a look at every player to wear No. 66 with the Vikings (via Pro Football Reference):

Vikings ranked 16th in the NFL in spending when signing undrafted free agents

NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero released a report on Saturday that showed a breakdown of spending by NFL teams for UDFA signings

Every year after the draft, NFL teams can bid for undrafted free agents in a recruitment process that mirrors regular free agency. Generally, teams who assert themselves and offer more guaranteed money have a higher likelihood of signing these players.

NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero released a report on Saturday. The report indicated that the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) provided agents with a team-by-team spending breakdown of last year’s undrafted free agent class.

The Minnesota Vikings were able to sign nine undrafted free agents last year, spending a total of $609,705. This ranks them 16th in the league in terms of total money spent on these players. Below are the names of the nine undrafted free agents who signed with the Vikings last season.

  • S Mike Brown
  • WR Thomas Hennigan
  • RB Bryant Koback
  • OLB Zach McCloud
  • C Josh Sokol
  • DT Tyarise Stevenson
  • OLD Luiji Vilain
  • P Ryan Wright
  • K Gabe Brkic

Keep in mind that this is just signing bonus money given to undrafted free agents. Teams will offer upwards of $250k to players to get them to sign with their team. If the player gets cut, which happens often, the signing bonus gets accelerated to next year’s salary cap.

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These 50 Vikings players are under contract for 2023

The Vikings currently have 50 players under contract going into the 2023 offseason

Minnesota Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has a lot of work to do this offseason to get the Vikings roster under the cap and ready to go for the 2023 season.

There is a lot of talk about impending free agents and potential cap casualties for the Vikings this offseason, but not so much about the other players that are under contract.

According to Over The Cap, the Vikings have 50 players currently under contract and sit $23,051,507 over the projected salary cap. Here is all 50 players under contract with the details of their current contracts.

Vikings LS Andrew DePaola among the league’s best

Special teams usually don’t get noticed, and that’s a good thing for long snappers

Most of the publicity for a team goes to the offense, defense or coaching staff. Rarely do special teams get a lot of attention unless they aren’t performing well.

That has happened often this season for the Minnesota Vikings, specifically with kicker Greg Joseph. Despite his five game-winning kicks this season, it’s the misses that have gotten the publicity.

One of the catalysts behind the success of both Joseph and punter Ryan Wright is long snapper Andrew DePaola.

He has been a quality long snapper for the Vikings during his three-year tenure here and it’s reflected in the PFF grades.

DePaola had the second-highest grade for all long snappers in both 2020 and 2021, and his top-graded performance this season was recognized this year with a Pro Bowl berth.

Sometimes, the little things add up and the consistency from DePaola has shown brightly this season.

Vikings worked out USFL veteran punter on Thursday

The Vikings seemed to be using strategy with their latest tryout

The Minnesota Vikings held a surprising tryout on Thursday afternoon by hosting punter Brock Miller per Pro Football Network’s Aaron Wilson.

Miller is a 31-year-old punter that has only been on an NFL roster for three months when he was with the San Francisco 49ers during the 2017 offseason.

He did punt for the New Jersey Generals this past spring in the USFL and was successful. He averaged 46.3 yards per punt on 31 punts with 10 of them being pinned inside the 20-yard line.

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Rookie punter Ryan Wright has had a successful season through seven games which raises the question why the Vikings would host a punter tryout. Well, the answer is simple. Miller is a left footed punter, and the Vikings will be facing one in Tress Way in Washington.

This is a smart strategy by the Vikings, as the ball spins differently with a left-footed punter. With Jalen Reagor’s issues in fielding punts, this was a wise move.

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Ryan Wright wins NFC Special Teams Player of the Week

The Vikings punter got recognized for his excellent play on Sunday

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The Minnesota Vikings had some impressive individual performances on Sunday against the Miami Dolphins but arguably none of them were more impressive than rookie punter Ryan Wright. The NFL agreed and awarded him NFC Special Teams Player of the Week.

Wright was impressive on Sunday as he became the second punter since 2016 to punt 10 times with his tea getting the victory. The other was Denver Broncos punter Corliss Waltman in week three against the Las Vegas Raiders.

Over his 10 punts, Wright averaged 44.1 yards per punt and nailed six of them inside the 20. His most impressive kick came early in the game when the Vikings were pinned at the six yard line. Wright kicked the ball over 80 yards in the air for an official long of 73 yards.

It’s not the best thing in the world to have a Vikings’ best player in a game be the punter, but it’s also great to see the purple and gold have a player that can flip the field.

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WATCH: Rookie Ryan Wright blasts a 73-yard punt

The rookie has become a weapon for the Vikings

The Minnesota Vikings made a surprising move during training camp when they cut veteran punter Jordan Berry in favor of rookie Ryan Wright out of Tulane. So far this season, that decision seems to be playing out really well.

On his second punt of the game, the Vikings had the ball inside the five-yard line. Wright took it upon himself to flip the field and did so with a 73-yard blast that pinned the Dolphins back much farther than expected.

With the Vikings offense playing as poorly as they are, having Wright playing this well is a good sign moving forwardl

Vikings convert clever fake punt vs Saints

The Vikings went into their bag of tricks for this play

You don’t always see teams try to convert a fake punt but the Minnesota Vikings did just that on Sunday morning.

With the Vikings offense sputtering and struggling to string together successful drives, head coach Kevin O’Connell and special teams coordinator Matt Daniels decided to pull a trick out of their bag of goodies to try and spark the offense.

Vikings rookie punter Ryan Wright is a former high school quarterback and does a good job hitting rookie wide receiver Jalen Nailor for his first catch in the National Football League.

The drive continued after the conversion but stalled after a couple of penalties. That led to a Greg Joseph field goal to put the Vikings up 19-14.

The Vikings have spoken often about being more aggressive and trying to take advantage of situations and thy did just that on this fake punt.