Kai Forbath seemingly did everything in 2017 but secure his job with the Vikings.

His zigzag road brought him nearly two years ago to Minnesota, where he has made 50 of 57 field-goal attempts (including 8-for-11 from 50-plus yards) in the regular season and playoffs. He accounted for 11 points in the Vikings’ first playoff victory in eight years. The kick that most impressed his coaches came at the end of the regular season in the 10-degree chill of Green Bay, converting from 49 yards.

It was just his second 16-game season for a team in six years. If Forbath entered the offseason at his Southern California home feeling relaxed, could you blame him?

Then the Vikings traded up last month to draft Auburn’s Daniel Carlson, the first of two kickers taken in the 2018 NFL draft.

“I mean it was a little shocking, yeah,” Forbath said.

So Forbath again will compete for a job this summer, just as he has nearly every NFL season.

“Same as every year,” Forbath said. “I’ve competed with someone every single year. It’s no different than last year with Marshall [Koehn] here. Daniel is a good, young kicker. I’m not here to coach him. I’m here to get myself ready for the season. We’ll have a good competition.”

This might be Forbath’s tallest competition to date.

The Vikings made Carlson the team’s most valuable pick at kicker (167th overall) in franchise history, trading up 13 spots at the cost of a sixth-round pick to acquire him. He’s 6-foot-4 and has the type of leg strength that coordinator Mike Priefer covets.

That’s where Forbath, whose accuracy has previously won competitions over late-round picks and undrafted rookies, can fall short. His distance on kickoffs has been average. Forbath said he focused “a lot” on kickoff technique during the offseason after he ranked 17th among all kickers in touchback percentage.

By Andrew Krammer

Star Tribune

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