Perfect on field goals until Sunday night, Will Reichard will see his rookie season interrupted by injury. After battling through a quad issue in Week 9, the Vikings kicker is headed to IR, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport tweets.
The Vikings are bringing in John Parker Romo, per NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero and Mike Garafolo, and making an injury-driven long snapper change. With Andrew DePaola going down, Garafolo adds Jake McQuaide is coming aboard.
This will mark some noticeable changes for the Vikes, who saw DePaola go down with a hand injury that will require surgery. McQuaide will stay in the NFC North, having made his previous two career stops with the Lions and Bears. Chicago released McQuaide from its practice squad last week.
A sixth-round pick out of Alabama, Reichard started his season 14 of 14 — including a 4-for-4 connect rate from 50-plus yards. He missed two kicks Sunday night, doing so as the quad injury hindered him. The Vikings, who moved on from three-year kicker Greg Joseph this offseason, will turn to Romo while the rookie recovers.
Prior to adding Romo, KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson notes the Vikes worked out Tristan Vizcaino. Randy Bullock was also at this audition, per KTSP’s Darren Wolfson. The Giants released Bullock this week; he had been serving as their Graham Gano fill-in.
Romo is 27 but has yet to kick in an NFL game. Like McQuaide, he has a past in Detroit and Chicago — along with New Orleans — but spent time with the Vikings this offseason. Minnesota, however, waived the former UDFA in July. Having kicked at three schools (Central Arkansas, Tulsa, Virginia Tech over a six-year period), Romo kicked in the XFL in 2023. That marks his only regular-season game experience since college. That figures to change soon.
This is poised to be McQuaide’s first action this season. A 10-year Rams veteran who snapped in Super Bowl LIII, McQuaide caught on with the Cowboys in 2021. After two Dallas seasons, the now-36-year-old snapper played for the Lions last year. This will mark a third straight season of part-time duty for McQuaide, who caught on with Detroit midway through last season and played just four games with Dallas in 2022.