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To quote the great American philosopher Ron Burgundy:
“OH, SWEET IRONY!”
It appears that former Minnesota Vikings kicker has found a new team. That, in and of itself, is not incredibly surprising. Despite Walsh’s myriad woes in 2016 before finally getting the boot in favor of Kai Forbath, he still has one of the best legs in football. Even in the worst of times, Walsh’s ability was never in question. The problem seemed to reside solely between his ears. He was never quite the same after missing the chip shot that would have propelled the Vikings to a playoff victory over the Seattle Seahawks. Perhaps all Walsh needs to regain his confidence and form was a change of scenery.
But...this kind of change? After I saw this tweet from Field Yates, I was nearly certain he was hacked:
The Seahawks have signed former Vikings K Blair Walsh, per league source.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) February 9, 2017
There’s no way that Walsh could be joining the team he missed the 27-yard field goal against, could he?! Sure enough, the official Seahawks PR account confirmed the move:
The @Seahawks have signed K Blair Walsh. #GoHawks
— Seattle Seahawks (@seahawksPR) February 9, 2017
Wow. I guess this is one way to face your demons.
So why exactly would the Seahawks do such a move? Do they just really like kickers that miss extra points? Steven Hauschka, the incumbent Seattle kicker that has been with the team since 2011, missed six of 35 extra point attempts in 2016. (Walsh missed four of 19 attempts before getting cut.)
Maybe they think they can “fix” Walsh. As stated earlier, the majority of Walsh’s woes are of the psychological variety. If he can clear his head in Seattle, Walsh is still capable of being a very good NFL kicker.
Perhaps this just continues the “Vikings West” trend that has happened over the past several seasons. The Vikings stole Steve Hutchinson in the famed “poison pill” deal, and Seattle has seemed to have a penchant for claiming Minnesota retreads ever since. From John Randle to Percy Harvin to Tarvaris Jackson to Sidney Rice to Kevin Williams, the Seahawks seem to enjoy poaching former Vikings.
Or maybe Seattle thinks they can let Blair Walsh get his ultimate revenge. You can just see it now—Vikings vs. Seahawks, 2017 Playoffs, Blair Walsh lines up for a 55-yard field goal to send his old team packing...
...and he nails it.
Crap. It’s definitely that last one, isn’t it? Dammit.