ARLINGTON, Texas -- A placekicker is off the board for the first time this weekend, and he's heading to Minneapolis.
The Minnesota Vikings traded two sixth-round picks to the New York Jets for the opportunity to select Auburn kicker Daniel Carlson with the 167th pick in the fifth round of the 2018 .
Carlson, the first kicker selected this year, will look to improve on Minnesota's subpar place-kicking game. Vikings kicker Kai Forbath missed five extra points and 11 kicks overall in 2017, good for first- and third-most in the league.
At Auburn, Carlson made 13 career field goals of at least 50 yards, but his field-goal accuracy dropped from 88 percent in 2016 to 74 percent last year.
Carlson will have a great opportunity to steal the starting kicker gig from Forbath this offseason. After all, you don't spend a draft pick on a special-teamer just to dump him come training camp.
