Vikings Sign Punter Seth Vernon as Competition For Ryan Wright
The Vikings have signed free agent punter Seth Vernon, the team announced on Tuesday. He'll provide competition with Ryan Wright for the team's punting job this offseason.
Vernon is a California native who began his college career at Santa Rosa Junior College. He then transferred to FCS Portland State, spending three years as their punter. During his time there, he averaged 44.6 yards on 93 punts. Vernon went undrafted in 2022 and signed with the Falcons, but was cut before the season. This is his first NFL opportunity since then. Vernon is a 6'5", 230-pound punter with a big leg.
The Vikings' incumbent punter is Ryan Wright, who they signed as an undrafted free agent out of Tulane in 2022. Wright beat out Jordan Berry for the job during training camp of his rookie year. He has a huge leg and had a very strong rookie season, but he regressed quite a bit in 2023. Wright ranked 18th in net punting at 41.6 yards last year, but he had the third-highest touchback percentage in the NFL and placed just 28.8 percent of his punts inside the 20 (29th out of 33 qualified punters).
Bringing in Vernon gives the Vikings some competition for the job. If Wright's going to remain their punter for a third consecutive season, he'll have to beat out the new guy to earn that spot.
The Vikings will also have a competition at kicker, where sixth-round draft pick Will Reichard will try to hold off former XFL kicker John Parker Romo. The same assumption is that Reichard and Wright will win their respective battles, but these will be legit competitions. If Romo or Vernon show up this offseason and are clearly the better option, they'll get the job.
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WILL RAGATZ
Will Ragatz is the publisher of Inside the Vikings, an SI.com channel in the Fan Nation network. He's in his fourth season as a credentialed Minnesota Vikings beat writer, covering the team at practices, games, and all offseason long. Will posts daily Vikings articles year-round. Not only is he on top of all the latest news, he provides the analysis and context to put the news into perspective. He knows the team inside and out, which allows him to bring depth and quality to his coverage. From free agency to the draft to training camp and the NFL season, Will covers every relevant story surrounding the Vikings. Prior to taking this role in 2019, Will attended Northwestern University and studied at the renowned Medill School of Journalism. As a student, he covered Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball, among other sports, for SB Nation's Inside NU. Will was a co-editor-in-chief of the site during his junior year. In the fall of 2018, Will interned at Sports Illustrated's newsroom in New York City, writing articles primarily on Major League Baseball, college football, and college basketball for SI.com. A native of Minneapolis who still resides in the city, Will grew up a diehard Minnesota sports fan. He played baseball at Southwest High School and wrote for the student newspaper.