The special teams play for the Vikings has been crucial to their success in recent years. Kicker Will Reichard is among the best kickers in the NFL, and their long snapper Andrew DePaola is an All-Pro player at his position. However, at the punter position, they have had a revolving door at the position in recent years.
However, during this preseason, they had a tough competition between veteran Johnny Hekker and Brett Thorson. On roster cutdown day, we saw the team go with the younger leg in Thorson, and it was the move that ESPN's Kevin Seifert called the biggest move of the day for them.
Seifert explains, "The Vikings chose rookie punter Brett Thorson over veteran Johnny Hekker in the competition to replace Ryan Wright, who signed with the Saints
this spring. Thorson had an excellent college career at Georgia, capped by the 2025 Ray Guy Award as the nation's best amateur punter, and was impressive in training camp. But the risk here is that he never served as a holder at Georgia, and in Minnesota, he had to prove he could do it without disrupting the timing of All-Pro kicker Will Reichard. It appears that Thorson earned Reichard's trust."
Thorson was impressive in the preseason and comes into the NFL with a lot of success behind him from his days at Georgia. If he can, the Vikings would have a young, complete special teams skill set in place for the foreseeable future with him and Reichard.
This article originally appeared on Vikings Wire: What was the Vikings biggest move during roster cuts?
