Throughout the 2022 NFL season, the Minnesota Vikings have experienced great success on their way to a 10-2 record. However, one of the biggest disappointments has regarded their kicker, Greg Joseph.
After a strong 2021 season in which Joseph hit over 86% of his field goals, including making 7 of his 9 attempts from 50+ yards, it’s been a rough go for the Vikings kicker. So far in 2022, he’s missed 10 kicks: 5 XP attempts and 5 field goals. All the field goal misses have been from 50+ yards, making him 2-of-7 from that distance in 2022.
Despite the Vikings success, there are fans that are concerned a playoff run could come to an end because of a missed kick. Given Minnesota’s history, it’s a warranted fear to have. All you have to do is Google “Blair Walsh” if you aren’t familiar.
Well, it seems Kwesi Adofo-Mensah may be as concerned as some fans because the Vikings quietly worked out a new kicker on Saturday. His name is Nick Sciba, and prior to making his NFL debut this season, he was working at a seafood market to pay the bills.
In his said NFL debut with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sciba nailed all three of kicks. The rookie hit two field goals, one from 29 yards and one from 38 yards, as well as an XP in Pittsburgh’s 35-13 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Shortly after, he was waived by the Steelers in favor of Matthew Wright.
Perhaps a perfect three-kick day isn’t that impressive, but what will impress is what came prior to that while he was in in college. During four years at Wake Forest, Sciba became the second-most accurate kicker in NCAA history by making 89.9% of his field goals. He sits 0.1% behind Brett Baer for the top spot, who made 90% of his field goals for the University of Louisiana.
Sciba narrowly missed out on that record, but he did get the record for most consecutive field goals made. From 2018-2019, Sciba had a stretch where he was automatic to the tune of 34 consecutive field goals made.
Overall, Sciba made 80-of-89 field goals for the Demon Deacons, and he was perfect on XP attempts, nailing all 193 attempts. Overall, that means he went 273-for-282 in his career, and 96.8% of his kicks went through the uprights. It seems almost criminal that this man hasn’t found his way onto an NFL roster for more than 10 days.
Of course, the fact that the Vikings worked Sciba out doesn’t mean that a signing is imminent. There are no signs of that at this point in time. That being said, Kwesi already shuffled up the special teams once this year by putting rookie punter Ryan Wright on the 53-man roster over seven-year veteran Jordan Berry. Could he do it again before a big playoff run?
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho with a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing. He also earned minors in History, Human Biology, and Journalism. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys marathon training, playing video games, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. For more of his opinions, check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.