The highest-scoring player in FBS history is headed for Minnesota. During the sixth round of the NFL Draft on Saturday, the Vikings called the name of Will Reichard, who was taken with the 203rd overall pick.
The former Alabama star was the first kicker taken in the 2024 NFL Draft. It's no surprise that the Vikings ended up selecting Reichard, and that's because they were one of the few teams that really needed to come out of the draft with a kicker. They had Greg Joseph last season, but they let him walk in free agency.
Going into the draft, the Vikings only had one kicker on their roster in John Parker Romo, who has never kicked in an NFL game. Parker Romo will now be competing with Reichard for Minnesota's kicking job.
Reichard will likely be going into that competition with a lot of confidence considering what he did in college. During his five-year career at Alabama, Reichard scored a total of 547 points, which is the most by any player in FBS history. Reichard hit 88% of his field goals last season, which included going a perfect 5 of 5 from 50 yards or more. In Alabama's biggest game of the year, Reichard hit two field goals from long range (50, 52) in a 27-20 loss to Michigan in the College Football Playoff semifinal.
Will Reichard is as true as the day is long#PMSCFBRoseBowl pic.twitter.com/uyoFJ9Laia
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) January 2, 2024
He was also deadly accurate from inside 40 yards, hitting 47 of 49 field goals in his career from that range (47 of 49). If there is one question mark with Reichard, it's his ability to kick from long range. The longest field goal he ever hit at Alabama was 52 yards, and he'll have to prove to the Vikings that he can consistently make kicks longer than that if he's going to win the competition over Parker Romo.
Reichard is the first Alabama kicker since 1966 to be drafted. He's also just the third kicker the Vikings have drafted over the past 45 years, joining Blair Walsh (2012) and Daniel Carlson (2018). Reichard is the second player the Vikings have selected from Alabama in this draft following the pick of Dallas Turner, who was taken 17th overall.
The Vikings' decision to select Reichard started a run of kickers in the sixth round. Although there were zero kickers taken in the first five rounds, there were three taken in Round 6 with Stanford's Joshua Karty (209 to the Rams) and Arkansas' Cam Little (212 to the Jaguars) getting drafted after Reichard.
