The kicking competition will be delayed
As things stand right now, with the team on the verge of starting Training Camp, two kickers will be competing for the starting job with the Minnesota Vikings: veteran Greg Joseph and undrafted free agent Riley Patterson. Unfortunately for one of them, it appears that any competition is going to be delayed.
The team has announced that they have placed Patterson on their Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) List, meaning that he will not be practicing with the team to start the season.
Patterson played his college football at the University of Memphis and signed with the Vikings following the 2021 NFL Draft. In his final season with the Tigers, he connected on 15-of-22 field goals (68%), which was good enough to get him a ticket to the Senior Bowl. He is the #2 leading scorer in Memphis football history with 432 points.
Patterson had missed a large part of the Vikings’ offseason program this year with an ailment that I don’t believe was ever disclosed. I’m assuming that put him significantly behind Joseph in any sort of competition there may have been, and now it appears he’s going to fall even farther behind.
Patterson is the only player that the Vikings have announced as going on the PUP List. As the veterans don’t report until tomorrow, we’ll have to wait and see if there are any more names added to that list.
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