Ladies and gentlemen, call the good lord above and tell him to stop the sky from falling. . .the Minnesota Vikings have made a move in free agency. Hallelujah!
Yes, the Beloved Purple have signed kickoff specialist Rhys Lloyd, who spent the last three seasons with the Carolina Panthers. This is a sort of homecoming for Lloyd, who spent 2003 and 2004 handling both the kicking and the punting chores for the Minnesota Golden Gophers, and prior to that was named an All-American at Rochester Community and Technical College.
A native of Dover, England, Lloyd was signed as an undrafted free agent by both the Baltimore Ravens and Green Bay Packers, but was released by both teams before ever kicking in any games for them. He then played two years with the Frankfurt Galaxy in NFL Europe before landing with the Baltimore Ravens in 2007. After being released by the Ravens, he signed with the Panthers, and served as their kickoff specialist through the 2009 season.
Lloyd led the NFL in touchbacks in 2008 with 30 on the season. One could only assume he'd be able to at least match that number while spending half of his games kicking in the weather-free conditions of the Metrodome.