Minnesota Vikings: 5 Players that should be re-signed for 2020

4. Dan Bailey

One of the more important and yet controversial areas among the Minnesota Vikings roster over the last few seasons comes at the kicker position.

The Vikings have struggled to find themselves a kicker that can provide stability and consistency over the last couple of years, which has driven Minnesota head coach Mike Zimmer into coming out publicly to express his frustrations with it.

But in 2019, the Vikings held one of the more consistent and reliable kicking units in the NFL behind veteran kicker Dan Bailey, with the 32-year-old putting together a solid campaign.

Bailey, who will enter the offseason as an unrestricted free agent, might end up being a player that Minnesota looks to retain ahead of the 2020 season, based solely on the reliability factor that he has provided the purple and gold with.

In 2019, which was Bailey’s second season with the Vikings and his ninth in the NFL after breaking into the league in 2011 with the Dallas Cowboys, the right-footed kicker appeared in all 16 games for Minnesota and put together a strong performance on the field when it mattered most.

In those 16 regular-season contests, Bailey finished with a 93.1 percentage mark when it came to converting on field goals, making 27 of his 29 overall attempts. When it came to extra points, Bailey made 40 of his 44 attempts to come to a percentage of 90.9 percent.

From beyond 50 yards, Bailey ended up going a perfect 3-for-3 and finished fourth in the NFL among starting kickers in field goal percentage. He previously connected on over 93 percent of his kicks in 2012, 2013 and 2015 with the Cowboys prior to doing so in 2019 with the Vikings.

With the inconsistencies that have surrounded past Vikings kickers, it’s hard to imagine Minnesota parting ways with Bailey before the 2020 campaign commences, although there will likely be some cheaper options out there on the market if Minnesota chooses to look elsewhere.