Vikings Release Kicker Dan Bailey, Clearing Over $1 Million in Cap Space
The Vikings have released kicker Dan Bailey, the team announced on Tuesday afternoon. This was a widely expected move given Bailey's struggles in 2020, his high cap hit, and the fact that Minnesota signed a replacement option in February.
The writing was on the wall earlier this year when the Vikings signed Greg Joseph, a former kicker for the Titans and Browns. Not only that, but they guaranteed a portion of Joseph's base salary for 2021.
Still, the Vikings had interest in bringing Bailey back to compete for the job on a restructured deal, according to KSTP's Darren Wolfson. But the two sides couldn't come to an agreement, and Bailey was subsequently cut.
Bailey's cap hit for 2021 was set to be $3.8 million, which was 11th-highest among NFL kickers, and $1.8 million of his $2.7 million 2021 base salary was set to become guaranteed on March 19th. Cutting Bailey comes with $2.1 million in dead money, which means the Vikings create $1.7 million in cap space. However, since a player making the league minimum ($660,000) enters the top 51 contracts, the immediate cap space created is just $1.04 million.
The final five games of last season were a disaster for Bailey. He missed three kicks against the Jaguars, and followed up that up with an 0 for 4 performance in Tampa the next week. Bailey added three more misses in the final two games of the season. In total, he made just five of ten field goals and 11 of 16 extra points from Week 13 to the end of the season.
Because of that catastrophic stretch, Bailey finished the year as the least accurate kicker in the NFL on both field goals (minimum 15 attempts) and extra points. He was also the lowest-graded kicker in the league by Pro Football Focus.
It was a rapid fall from grace for a kicker who was once the most accurate in NFL history. The Oklahoma State product got off to a very strong start to his career with the Cowboys, making at least 84 percent of his field goals in each of his first six seasons, with at 93 percent rate or better in half of those. Bailey also didn't miss a single extra point in any of those seasons.
Bailey's play declined in 2017 and the Cowboys moved on the following offseason. The Vikings signed him in September 2018 to replace struggling rookie Daniel Carlson. Bailey wasn't great that season, making just 75 percent of his field goal attempts, but he bounced back with a great 2019. He went 27 of 29 on field goals (93 percent) that season, but his four missed extra points were a career-high.
From Week 8 of 2019 to Week 3 of last season, Bailey had made 22 field goals in a row. Then he missed an attempt in consecutive games and was barely used in the middle of the season before falling apart late in the year.
It's unclear whether Bailey's issues were mechanical, mental, or a combination of both. The latter seems likely. When talking to reporters about his late-season collapse, Bailey struggled to identify the problem.
Regardless, Joseph now becomes the heavy favorite to be the Vikings' kicker in 2021. Including playoffs, he has made 18 of 21 career field goals (86 percent) and 43 of 47 extra points (91 percent). The Vikings might bring in a cheap veteran or an undrafted free agent for competition with Joseph in training camp, but I'd imagine they've learned their lesson about using draft capital on kickers after what happened with Blair Walsh, Carlson, and Kaare Vedvik.
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