EAGAN, Minn. — When John Parker Romo first signed with the Vikings back in March, it appeared to be only a matter of time before he would be Minnesota’s newest kicker.
The Vikings had cut ties with Greg Joseph, and Romo had just the type of confidence, consistency and attitude that head coach Kevin O’Connell was looking for in a placekicker.
Then came the NFL Draft.
The Vikings selected Alabama kicker Will Reichard in the sixth round to compete with Romo, and by the end of July, a decision was made.
"We had Parker Romo with our team before we drafted Will Reichard, and had a lot of confidence (in him) through the early part," O'Connell said. "The offseason program was about two weeks old when we pulled Will's card in the draft, and we had confidence — we were going to let them compete, and they did. Will's just been fantastic."
The Vikings released Romo on July 29, and while he was only with the team for a few months, he still left a mark. O’Connell remembers vividly the first time he interacted with Romo during the team’s offseason program, and was impressed with what he saw.
“Park was banging field goals in between the [offensive] and [defensive] session … and he hit one from like 58, 59 yards,” O’Connell recalled. “I was probably standing a little too close, and the competitive look on his face, basically saying, ‘I know you saw that, now get out of the way.' ... I remember feeling like he had a great edge to him, but in a good way, and thought it would be a great competition with him and Will, which it was."
The Vikings eventually rolled with the rookie kicker to start the season, and after a perfect start to his NFL career — hitting his first 34 kicks — Reichard seemed destined to be Minnesota's kicker for the long haul. However, a quad injury landed Reichard on Injured Reserve, and the Vikings needed a new leg.
Insert Romo.
The 27-year-old was brought back to compete early last week, and after thriving in the tryout, he suited up just five days later as the Vikings' new kicker. Making his NFL debut, Romo connected on all four of his field goal attempts and scored the only points in Minnesota's 12-7 victory over the Jaguars.
But Romo shared the credit.
"They didn't just come from my foot, they came from the whole team," he said. "Sam Darnold and the offense did a good job getting us downfield enough to get us in field goal range. Had a great operation this week with (punter/holder) Ryan (Wright) and (long snapper) Jake (McQuaid), and we just executed when we were called on."
"He just came out and was his consistent self," said Vikings special teams coordinator Mike Daniels. "He was the same guy that we saw back during OTAs. He was consistent, the ball-striking consistency was there."
That consistency was on full display Sunday for what O'Connell called a full-circle moment.
“Full circle to give him a game ball after making four kicks for us when we needed him,” said O’Connell.
The Vikings will need him for at least the next three games as Reichard continues to recover from his injury. He'll be eligible to return for Minnesota's game against the Atlanta Falcons, but should his injury linger any longer, O'Connell and the Vikings have plenty of confidence in Romo carrying out the kicking duties.
