The Best Viking This Preseason Isn't Who You'd Expect

After a dominating all-around performance against the Houston Texans, the Minnesota Vikings followed it up with a mediocre one the following week against the New England Patriots. Still, there’s one Viking who has been the model of consistency and has risen above all the rest this August. The best player on the Vikings this preseason may not be the most talked about, but kicker Will Reichard has been quite literally perfect through two games.

The 24-year-old has yet to miss a kick this preseason, and he’s also the only kicker in the NFL still flawless with six or more attempts. Since going a perfect four for four in the New England game last Saturday, Reichard is now six for six this preseason on field goal attempts to go along with his two extra points. It’s also noteworthy that half of those makes have come from 47 yards or longer.

Minnesota's offense hasn’t exactly been setting records. Reichard is responsible for 20 of their meager 32 total points this preseason. But regardless of how the team around him has been performing, Reichard’s return to form is a welcome sign. It’s not a huge sample size, but after finishing 2024 on a low note and starting camp equally rocky, his reemergence is reassuring, to say the least.

After missing four games due to a quad injury last season, Reichard returned as a different player. He finished the season 10 for 14, making just 71% of his field goals post-injury. At the start of training camp this year, it was more of the same, with Reichard making just 72% of his field goal attempts after the first full week of practice. While Mike Zimmer would have probably already bought Reichard a one-way ticket to anywhere else, Kevin O’Connell and Co. have stayed patient.

Recently, Reichard has rewarded his coaches for their patience. His camp numbers are up, and he has yet to make a mistake through two preseason games. We’re starting to get glimpses of the dominant rookie we saw in the first half of last season. At this pace, Reichard might even clear the low bar of becoming the best player Kwesi Adofo-Mensah ever drafted. So, whatever training method, study session, or hypnosis tape Reichard used over the past few weeks to improve, it should be included in the game plan for Week 1.

While preseason is often a poor indication of how most players’ skills might translate to the regular season, kickers are refreshingly different. The snapper and holder are (generally) the same guys, and it doesn’t really matter that much if the second-string or fourth-string players are out there on defense. It’s just Will Reichard versus the goal posts. The play in the preseason won’t change much from what he’ll see in the regular season, so the reps are incredibly valuable.

Reichard has proven he has the talent to be an elite NFL kicker. While the first few weeks of camp might have raised a few concerns, he’s erased them with a perfect preseason. From a purely statistical standpoint, preseason kicking accuracy has been largely predictive of success in the regular season. So the fact that Reichard has been dialed in this preseason is a good sign of things to come in September.

Last preseason, before Reichard started a perfect 14-for-14 in the regular season, he went seven for eight, with his lone miss an unusual blocked kick on his first-ever attempt in the pros. Discounting games where he was still probably dealing with the quad injury, Reichard is 27 for 28 on field goals across the 2024 and 2025 preseasons and regular season. For those keeping score at home, that’s good, and it’s an encouraging sign for a team that will inevitably play in about 15 one-score games this season. While that’s an unusual dataset, it illustrates why the Vikings have maintained such high confidence in Reichard.

Although most of the roster has performed fairly unevenly this preseason, Reichard has re-instilled confidence in a fanbase that has been hurt too many times before. Through two games, he has made it apparent why the Vikings never bothered with any sort of kicking competition this summer. While punter may be the more talked about special teams position, with a battle still raging, kicker feels the most stable it’s been since the pre-wide-left Blair Walsh days. Now with a healthy Reichard, there’s no reason for any hesitancy surrounding the position heading into the season.

Ultimately, through very scientific studies, it was determined that Vikings’ kickers are the No. 1 cause of sports-related misery in Minnesota. Luckily for fans in 2025, it looks as though Reichard is back to form, and the second-year kicker will be a huge asset for a team with Super Bowl aspirations. Despite a rough camp, he’s peaking at the right time and has been the Vikings' best and most consistent player so far this preseason.