With Ryan Wright departing for New Orleans early in free agency, the Minnesota Vikings needed a punter to fill out their group of specialists, and they added one with quite the résumé on Tuesday night.
Per numerous sources, the Vikings have agreed to the terms of a one-year contract with punter Johnny Hekker.
At one point in time, Hekker was considered the best punter in the National Football League. After going undrafted out of Oregon State in 2012, he signed with the (then) St. Louis Rams and spent the first ten seasons of his NFL career with the team. During his time with the Rams, he garnered six All-Pro nods, four of them First-Team (2013, 2015, 2016, 2017) and two Second-Team (2014, 2018). He was also a four-time Pro Bowler and holds the NFL record for the highest net punting average in a season, with 46.0, setting that record in 2016. That was good enough to get him named as the punter on the NFL’s 2010s All-Decade Team.
After he left the Rams, he moved on to the Carolina Panthers for three seasons before spending this past season with the Tennessee Titans. In 2025, he had a 40.3 yard net punting average (Wright was at 44.5, for comparison) and landed just over 28% of his punts inside the 20-yard line. He has the most punts of any currently active player in the league with 1,041.
And for those of you who are interested in that sort of thing, he’s also completed 15-of-26 passes in his career for 193 yards, a touchdown, and an interception.
Even with Hekker’s impressive résumé, I would expect the Vikings to at least bring in some competition for him in training camp.
What does everyone think of the Vikings bringing Johnny Hekker on board? Let us know in the comments!
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