The Vikings’ new kicker, John Parker Romo, will make his NFL debut on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars, which did not seem in the realm of possibility a week ago.
Kicker John Parker Romo stands ready to make his NFL debut with Vikings after winning tryout
John Parker Romo, a third-year player who trained with the Vikings in the preseason, will appear in his first regular-season game after competing with four other kickers to replace injured Will Reichard this week.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
November 7, 2024 at 2:20AM
Romo, a 27-year-old on his fourth NFL team, has yet to kick in a regular-season game, but the Vikings came calling after rookie Will Reichard strained his right quadriceps during Sunday’s win. Romo emerged as the winner among five kickers the Vikings hosted during a Tuesday tryout at TCO Performance Center in Eagan.
“I kind of saw him limping a little bit,” Romo said. “So I couldn’t sleep Sunday night, praying that call is going to come. Sure enough, it came, and I was watching with my daughter. It was really cool.”
The Vikings will be replacing two-thirds of their kicking operation after Reichard and long snapper Andrew DePaola were placed on injured reserve this week. DePaola, a two-time Pro Bowler who requires surgery on his right hand, will be replaced by 14th-year veteran Jake McQuaide, who was signed to the practice squad this week. The earliest Reichard and DePaola can return is Dec. 8 against the Falcons.
The Vikings are unsure when Reichard, a sixth-round pick who made 34 kicks in a row to begin his NFL career, will be healthy enough to play again, according to Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell.
“We don’t know that yet,” O’Connell said Wednesday. “But we’ll be trying to get him to a place where we can, at the very least, maybe open his [practice] window as soon as possible to get him kicking around the guys again and working back into it. But I think the most important thing is right now him just getting on the road to allowing that thing to just totally settle down and be a nonissue moving forward.”
Reichard said his right leg was sore entering Sunday’s game, but coaches said he did not relay that information before he strained his quad. O’Connell downplayed any concern about that.
“He’s an ultimate competitor,” O’Connell said. “I just wanted to make sure he knew that he’s not letting anybody down. We just need him to get healthy and be ready to get right back on track to where he was before having that take place early on in the game.”
Romo, undrafted in 2022 after five years at three colleges, continues his circuitous route in the NFL, where he’s had brief stints with the Saints, Lions and Bears without appearing in a regular-season game. He spent a few months with the Vikings this spring, competing with Reichard during workouts before being released at the start of training camp in late July.
His phone didn’t ring with any contract or tryout offers until the Vikings came calling.
“There’s always that little bit of doubt where you never know if you’re going to come back or not,” Romo said, “but the key is to keep your head down, stay locked in, stay ready.”
Romo, who attended Central Arkansas in 2016, stayed prepared in Fayetteville, Ark., where he trained two to three times a week with former Razorbacks long snapper Jordan Silver and current Razorbacks punter Devin Bale.
The Vikings also leaned into familiarity in replacing DePaola. McQuaide, 36, played with and under special teams coordinator Matt Daniels, a former NFL safety who was McQuaide’s Rams teammate in 2012 and 2013. Daniels also coached McQuaide while he was a Cowboys assistant coach in 2021.
McQuaide knows Romo, too, from their brief time together in Detroit last season.
“I believe in his talent a lot,” McQuaide said. “He’s a really, really good player. He just needs opportunities. That’s the only thing he’s been limited on is opportunities.”
McQuaide also spent the 2020 season with O’Connell, when O’Connell was in his first year as Rams offensive coordinator.
Safe to say the veteran long snapper knows his place on this Vikings team.
“It’s not getting on the same page,” McQuaide said, “it’s getting on their page. I’m not coming in here saying, ‘I like to do this.’ It’s, ‘What are you guys doing?’ They’re the boss. That’s what they’re going to get. Because the numbers go to their names: the makes, the misses, the averages.”
Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold is completing more passes more often for more touchdowns than he ever has. “What we’re trying to get from Sam is to play the best football of his career,” coach Kevin O'Connell said.
