The Minnesota Vikings traded a fifth round pick to select Daniel Carlson. He was considered the highest-drafted kicker in the Vikings team history. Carlson was in competition with Kai Forbath during the spring season for the Vikings. On August 20th, Minnesota released Forbath, and the rookie won out the Minnesota Vikings kicker spot.
Last sunday, during the border battle between the Greenbay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings, Carlson had numerous opportunities to prove himself. The Vikings did not play their best. Aaron Rodgers played during the game, and he will be known for being the only quarterback to play while being injured. Although the Vikings had plenty of time to take the lead, Carlson missed three field goals, including the last one which could have won the game for the Vikings.
“It feels terrible. Obviously I let my team down,” Carlson said. “That last one was probably more just confidence after missing twice early. That’s frustrating. That shorter one I should never miss like that.” – Daniel Carlson
Many Vikings fans were furious with the game. The Viking were obviously the clear cut team to win the game, although they ended in a tie. During the post-game conference, Coach Zimmer responded saying that he had no plans yet if they were going to release Carlson. The next day, news got out that Carlson was released, and the Vikings picked up a new kicker. The Minnesota VIkings signed Dan Bailey, who is a veteran kicker. He was known to be the second most consistent kicker in NFL until his last injury.
Coach Zimmer was very confident in his answer to replacing Carlson with Bailey. During the press conference a few days ago, Zimmer was asked, “what went into the decision to release Carlson?” Zimmer responded, “Did you see the game?”. He also called the decision “pretty easy”.