{"id":650418,"date":"2026-01-03T10:19:29","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T10:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/650418\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T10:19:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T10:19:29","slug":"vikings-kicker-will-reichard-hes-got-a-true-killer-mindset","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/650418\/","title":{"rendered":"Vikings kicker Will Reichard: \u2018He’s got a true killer mindset\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Will Reichard<\/a> could come out of the Minnesota Vikings\u2019 season finale on Sunday with two Alabama<\/a> NFL records.<\/p>\n

The most kicking points scored and the most field goals made by an Alabama alumnus were recorded by David Ray in 1973. The former Central-Phenix City standout led the NFL that season with 130 points and 30 field goals.<\/p>\n

Reichard has tied Ray\u2019s record with 30 field goals, and the former Hoover star enters Sunday\u2019s finale with 120 points in the 2025 campaign. <\/p>\n

Reichard will be kicking in his 17th game this season while NFL teams played 14 games in Ray\u2019s big year. But while Reichard has played more games, he hasn\u2019t taken more kicks than Ray, who played for the NFL\u2019s highest-scoring team in 1973.<\/p>\n

Ray made 30-of-47 field-goal attempts and 40-of-42 extra-point kicks that season. In 2025, Reichard has hit 30-of-32 field-goal attempts and all 30 of his PATs (with extra points 13 yards farther out than when Ray played).<\/p>\n

Only one of the regular NFL kickers has fewer misses this season than Reichard. The New York Jets\u2019 Nick Folk has made 28-of-29 field-goal attempts and all 22 of his PATs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s just a credit to who this guy is,\u201d Vikings special-teams coach Matt Daniels said<\/a> about Reichard. \u201cHe\u2019s got a true killer mindset, a growth mindset. \u2026 You look at it \u2013 30-for-32. This guy is wired the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n

FOR MORE OF AL.COM\u2019S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE<\/a><\/p>\n

Reichard\u2019s field goals also differ from Ray and his era in another way. In 1973, Ray attempted one field goal of 50 or more yards. Reichard enters the final weekend of the regular season tied with the Dallas Cowboys\u2019 Brandon Aubrey and Tampa Bay Buccaneers\u2019 Chase McLaughlin with 11 field goals made from at least 50 yards out.<\/p>\n

Reichard is among the six players in NFL history to make at least four field goals from 59 or more yards, and he hit them all this season, with a franchise-record 62-yarder in a 48-10 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 21.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou look at just the overall — how I want to put this? — his portfolio of kicks on the year,\u201d Daniels said<\/a>. \u201cI mean, he tied for the longest at Soldier Field, really going against the win, 59-yarder. He hits the second-longest at Lambeau (Field) dating back since David Akers in 2004. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think the — not really unfortunate part — but we really haven\u2019t had those ice-in-the-veins kind of walkoff, winning field goals yet in his career. But in moments when we needed them the most, whether it\u2019s to go up by three with two minutes left in the game and defense got to get a stop or it\u2019s to put ourselves in a position to basically go up another possession or extra three or seven points right there, he\u2019s been able to do that and capitalize on those biggest of moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reichard\u2019s two misses in 2025 came from 51 yards in a 21-17 victory over the Cleveland Browns on Oct. 5 and 53 yards in a 37-10 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Oct. 23. Reichard has made 16 field-goal attempts in a row since the second miss.<\/p>\n

Both misses might deserve asterisks. <\/p>\n

The Vikings complained to the league office that Reichard\u2019s wide-right kick against Cleveland didn\u2019t go through the uprights because the football nicked a camera-support cable <\/a>over the field on its way toward the goalpost at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.<\/p>\n

The kick against Los Angeles was on target but didn\u2019t reach the crossbar. In that instance, Reichard and the field-goal unit rushed onto the field on fourth down with time running out in the first half. Because of the circumstances, the Vikings did not get to use their K-ball<\/a>, and Reichard instead kicked the game ball instead.<\/p>\n

A K-ball, or kicking ball, is used for almost all kicking situations in the NFL. Teams have the opportunity to break in the balls, which leaves them softer and more pliable than the footballs used for game play.<\/p>\n

The Vikings close their season against the Green Bay Packers at noon CST Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. <\/p>\n

At 9-6-1, the Packers are locked into the No. 7 seed and a road game as a wild-card qualifier for the NFC playoffs. The Vikings enter their final game with an 8-8 mark for 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Will Reichard could come out of the Minnesota Vikings\u2019 season finale on Sunday with two Alabama NFL records.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":650419,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2073],"tags":[7,233,259,2529,6,31185,234],"class_list":{"0":"post-650418","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-vikings","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-minnesota","10":"tag-minnesota-vikings","11":"tag-minnesotavikings","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-nflraw25","14":"tag-vikings"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115830663730166199","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}