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- Mar 18, 2019
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The Vikings asked Dan Bailey to take a pay cut in the offseason and then traded for Kaare Vedvik in the preseason.
Bailey, though, won the job and has looked like Dan Bailey again so far this season. He is 8-for-9, missing a 47-yarder wide left in Week Two.
“I think the smoothness of the operation with the holds and the snaps and all that has helped,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said, via Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press. “He’s kind of been on roll lately, so just try and keep it consistent.”
It wasn’t that long ago that Bailey had the highest field goal percentage in NFL history. Then, he had a hip injury and lost his job in Dallas.
He struggled last season with the Vikings, going 21-of-28. After making 88.2. percent of his kicks in his first seven seasons, Bailey made only 75 percent last season.
Bailey, 31, agreed to drop his base salary from $1.98 million to $1 million in the offseason.
“My mentality is I want to be playing this game as long as I can,” Bailey said Friday. “I don’t want to squeeze myself because of money. I don’t think that’s a good strategy as far as what my goals are.”
The Vikings replaced their long snapper and holder before the season with rookie Austin Cutting now long snapping and punter Britton Colquitt holding. Cutting and Colquitt have helped make Bailey’s job “easier.”