| Advertisement |
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn -- Perhaps everyone is worrying about the wrong kicking specialist as the Minnesota Vikings near the completion of another week of OTAs with Jeff Locke as the only punter on the roster. Much has been made of kicker Blair Walsh's 27-yard duck hook with 22 seconds left in the 10-9 wild-card playoff loss to Seattle five months ago. And for good reason. That's a difficult thing to bounce back from no matter how positive a guy's attitude is.
Advertisement
But in terms of overall body of work, Locke has been the more suspect performer for some time. And that's no small concern on a team that's still powered by Adrian Peterson, solid defense and favorable field position.
Three weeks ago, the Vikings invited unsigned rookie punters Taylor Symmank of Texas Tech and Nick O'Toole of West Virginia to try out during the team's rookie mini-camp.
The original plan was to sign one of them, but neither impressed the team enough to earn a contract.
The notion that the Vikings would turn quickly to someone else to at least push Locke is growing old and confusing, although plenty of time still remains to challenge Locke heading into the fourth and final year of his rookie deal.
Special teams coordinator Mike Priefer was asked after Wednesday's OTA practice whether he thinks another punter will be signed or whether Locke is on his own.
"I think it depends on how Jeff does the rest of the spring and how comfortable (general manager) Rick (Spielman) is and how comfortable Coach (Mike) Zimmer is and we'll talk about that as the spring goes on," he said.
"We had two good, young rookie punters at minicamp who performed very, very well so we know those guys are out there (still unsigned) if we need to go that route."
Locke has been inconsistent throughout much of his three NFL seasons. Last year, he ranked last in the league in gross punting (41.6 average) and 30th in net punting (37.8).
Priefer said he challenged Locke after last season and has been impressed with how the punter has responded so far.
"He's actually come back strong," Priefer said. "He's a very good punter. People want to look at the total numbers and the raw numbers from last year, but he punted in TCF (Bank stadium) for eight regular season games and a playoff game. And if you compare the numbers to the (opponent's punter) on those certain days, he punted just as good as or better than them.
"I feel very confident about Jeff going forward."
NOTES: DT Sharrif Floyd continues to give people reason to worry about his durability. His talent and rare combination of power and quick-twitch moves is undeniable. But he also can't stay healthy, either missing games or allowing injuries to render him ineffective when he does play with them. Floyd remains sidelined during OTAs because of leg injuries sustained last season. Coach Mike Zimmer said he doesn't think Floyd will miss time in training camp. ... OT T.J. Clemmings has been switched to left tackle, and he looks like a guy who has recently been asked to switch sides. A season-ending injury to Phil Loadholt forced Clemmings to start every game at right tackle as a rookie last season. He struggled throughout the season and had no chance to compete there with Loadholt back and former Bengal Andre Smith signed via free agency. Clemmings is competing for the swing tackle spot and needs work at left tackle. ... WR Laquon Treadwell hasn't stood out during the few OTA practices that have been open to the media. But one thing is starting to become clear. The kid is a worker. He was the last player to leave the practice field on Wednesday. Long after the second-to-last player left the field, Treadwell was still catching balls from the Jugs machine.
