High-pressure position? The Minnesota Vikings plan to really make their kickers sweat this summer.
Paul Edinger and Aaron Elling, in alphabetical order, are vying for a very important job, and each will be given plenty of opportunity in the coming weeks to prove to this team that he is worth keeping.
On the second day of training camp, there generally isn't much tension. But when either Edinger or Elling lined up to try a field goal on Sunday, just about every set of eyes around the practice field seemed focused on the football as it went flying through the air and through - or wide of - the goal posts.
That figures to be the way it will be for a while as the Vikings scrutinize an area in which they've been starving for stability since Mike Tice took over as coach in 2002.
Tice and special teams coach Rusty Tillman have changed their practice routine to include a significant amount of situational kicking drills sprinkled throughout the workouts - instead of saving everything for the end. If the offense is running plays in scrimmage-like fashion, Edinger and Elling must be ready at any time to run on the field and kick. Just like in a game.
Paul Edinger and Aaron Elling, in alphabetical order, are vying for a very important job, and each will be given plenty of opportunity in the coming weeks to prove to this team that he is worth keeping.
On the second day of training camp, there generally isn't much tension. But when either Edinger or Elling lined up to try a field goal on Sunday, just about every set of eyes around the practice field seemed focused on the football as it went flying through the air and through - or wide of - the goal posts.
That figures to be the way it will be for a while as the Vikings scrutinize an area in which they've been starving for stability since Mike Tice took over as coach in 2002.
Tice and special teams coach Rusty Tillman have changed their practice routine to include a significant amount of situational kicking drills sprinkled throughout the workouts - instead of saving everything for the end. If the offense is running plays in scrimmage-like fashion, Edinger and Elling must be ready at any time to run on the field and kick. Just like in a game.
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