Minnesota Vikings Lock in Key Specialist

NFL free agency is about to break the internet over the next couple of days. While most of the heavy offseason lifting will be done between now and the end of this week, the Minnesota Vikings did some pretty decent prep work over the weekend.

Friday, we got clarification regarding their stance on 2024 QB Sam Darnold. Early Sunday, they even re-signed 1,000 yard running back Aaron Jones. General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah wasn’t quite finished with his pre-free agency moves yet, though.

Punter Ryan Wright re-signs with Minnesota Vikings

The Minnesota Vikings believe they have their kicker of the future, in 2024 5th round draft pick, Will Reichard. Late Sunday night, news broke that Vikings punter and (and Reichard’s holder) Ryan Wright will join him in the specialists room for at least one more season ($1.75M), per Tom Pelissero.

Punter news: The #Vikings and Ryan Wright agreed to terms on one-year, $1.75 million deal, per source. Wright, who was scheduled to be a restricted free agent, can earn up to $2M with incentives. pic.twitter.com/TnDrBayikn

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 10, 2025

Ryan Wright has spent three seasons in the NFL, all as a member of the Minnesota Vikings. The new deal is a decent sized raise for Wright, who has only made $2.5 million through the first three years of his career. Should the former Tulane Green Wave punter max out his incentives in 2025, he can get semi-close to that number in just one season.

Last offseason the Minnesota Vikings brought in some competition to push Wright into winning the job. He ultimately persevered and held down the role for the entire season. We’ll see if they look to push him in camp again this summer.

How good is Vikings punter Ryan Wright?

In 2023 the biggest issue for Wright was field position. Although his 48.9 yards per punt was a career-high, he had an 11.9% touchback rate and landed just 28.8% of his kicks inside the 20 yard line. The script flipped in 2024 with a career-best 48.2% of his punts landing within the 20 yard line.

In an ideal world, the Minnesota Vikings would love to see Wright marry his 1.4% touchback rate from his rookie season, to the 48.2% of his punts that landed within the 20 yard line last year.

Related: Minnesota Vikings Strike New Deal with Aaron Jones

The ability to pin back the opposing offense, while not bouncing the ball into the end zone, would be great. Last season he owned an 8.9% touchback rate. Due to the Vikings offensive prowess with Sam Darnold at the helm, Wright was called on to punt just 56 times last year.

That represents a career-low. His big leg resulted in a long of 66 yards. Kevin Seifert (ESPN) has suggested that Wright’s new deal won’t stop the Vikings from bringing in some competition for him in training camp. At the very least though, this deal very much makes Minnesota’s 2025 punting job his to lose.