Through three games, Minnesota’s most reliable scorer hasn’t been lining up on offense. He’s been standing on special teams, and Will Reichard has become the Vikings’ steady answer every time the offense stalls.
Reichard, Alabama’s all-time leading scorer with 547 points, which also stands as the all-time FBS scoring record, has put up 27 points for Minnesota this season and is one of the biggest reasons the team is 3-0. The 25-year-old has been automatic from distance, and when the Vikings can drag the ball inside his career-high 62-yard range, they know they’ve got points coming.
“I think just the preparation that I put in,” Reichard said about the source of his confidence. “Work really hard throughout the offseason to go out there and not really think about anything and trust my technique.”
That confidence has shown up in a big way for a team that has been short on offense. Minnesota ranks last in the NFL in total offense at 238 yards per game and is converting just 30% of its third downs. That puts even more weight on Reichard’s leg every week.
“It is really something,” said head coach Kevin O’Connell on Reichard’s performance. “You start to feel like you’re getting Steph Curry open for a three-pointer…that’s why we got him. We think we have the best kicker in football.”
O’Connell said after the game, “We gotta get a lot better on offense,” adding, “From a standpoint of just doing some routine things and taking advantage of some opportunities when we have them.”
Until that happens, Reichard is there to “etch off points,” as O’Connell put it. That makes him the safety net for an offense still trying to find its footing as Kyler Murray adapts to the Vikings offense.
Reichard’s résumé keeps growing, too. The 2025 first-team All-Pro became the first NFL kicker in league history to hit four 59-plus-yard field goals in a single season. He also became the second player in NFL history to make 19 50-plus-yard field goals in his first two professional seasons.
Minnesota got him in the draft-day trade with the New York Jets that brought back the 10th pick and the 203rd pick. The Vikings used 10 on J.J.
McCarthy, then found Reichard still available at 203. For a team working through the McCarthy saga, that late-round pickup looks like a major win.
Reichard has also been flawless on extra points, going 75 for 75, with most of those kicks coming from at least 33 yards out. On Sunday, he had to drill a 48-yarder after an excessive-celebration 15-yard penalty on Minnesota’s first punt-return touchdown in nearly a decade.
He’s done all of that while still on his rookie deal, and the case for an extension is obvious. General manager Nolan Teasley has a kicker who appears fully recovered from his quad injury and gives the Vikings something they can count on every time he jogs onto the field. For a fan base that knows the pain of clutch kicking, that matters.
Reichard has missed only two kicks in his NFL career. Some conspiracists - or people who say the video makes it plain - believe the ball hit wires used for NFL broadcasting technology during last season. On video of both misses against the Cleveland Browns and the Los Angeles Chargers in 2025, the wires appear to have changed the ball’s path.
Whatever anyone thinks of those misses, the bigger picture is clear: Minnesota may have found its best kicker since Gary Anderson. Reichard belongs in the conversation with Justin Tucker and Brandon Aubrey, and as long as this offense keeps sputtering, he’ll keep getting chances to add to his reputation.
Playing indoors helps, and so does a yearly divisional trip to Detroit. But the biggest edge right now is simpler than that: Will Reichard has earned the title of Mr. Automatic, and he’s already one of the most important names on a Vikings special teams unit that keeps delivering when the offense cannot.
In Other News...
Vikings Just Lost Another Depth Piece To A Desperate Giants Team
The Giants turned to familiar help along their defensive front, signing Jihad Ward off the Vikings practice squad to their active roster after Brian Burns went down with a torn ACL. Ward had already spent time in New York during the 2022 and 2023 seasons, so the move gives the Giants an immediate option they know well as they try to patch together the edge-rush group.
For Minnesota, it is another reminder of how thin depth can get in a hurry when other teams are hunting for experienced bodies. Ward had been sitting on the Vikings practice squad, but New York needed a quick fix and made room by releasing Josh Tupou, leaving Minnesota to absorb one more roster loss while the market around a damaged Giants defense keeps shifting. [Read more 🡒]
Vikings Finally Explained The J.J. McCarthy Trade Fans Feared
When the Vikings sent J.J. McCarthy to the Giants, it immediately landed as the kind of move that can rattle a fan base, especially with a player whose future had been tied so closely to the teams long-term plans. General manager Nolan Teasley later laid out the reasoning behind the deal, and the key point was simple enough: this was not a trade McCarthy asked for, even if the optics made it easy for supporters to assume otherwise.
Kevin OConnells reaction added another layer to the story, because the head coach described an emotional exchange with McCarthy after the announcement. For Minnesota, the explanation matters as much as the transaction itself, since any departure involving a high-profile young quarterback is going to invite questions about timing, trust and whether the organization sees the move as a football decision or something more complicated. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Plan For J.J. McCarthy Says Plenty About Vikings Trade
The Giants reported plan for J.J. McCarthy is a revealing one for the Vikings as much as it is for New York. Minnesota moved on from the quarterback in exchange for a 2027 fifth-round pick, and the direction the Giants are taking with him suggests they see a player whose best early fit is in a run-heavy setup rather than as the centerpiece of a high-volume passing game.
For Vikings fans, that naturally brings the trade back into focus. McCarthys college success came in a system that did not ask him to carry much of the passing load, and his time in Minnesota showed how difficult that transition could be when the offense asked for more. If the Giants are already shaping their offense around those concerns, it only sharpens the question of what the Vikings believed they had, and why they were willing to move on when they did. [Read more 🡒]