Vikings acquire kicker Kaare Vedvik from Ravens
Looking for solutions for their longtime kicking issues, the Minnesota Vikings traded for Kaare Ved vik from the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.
Vedvik has kicked and punted for Baltimore, which was set at the position with stand outs Justin Tucker and Sam Koch. The Ravens announced the trade via Twitter with an undisclosed draft pick as the compensation in the deal for Baltimore.
The trade was announced just minutes before Vikings coach Mike Zimmer spoke to reporters on Sunday and he wouldn't acknowledge t he trade.
Minnesota has former Southwest Covenant and Oklahoma State kicker Dan Bailey, who missed seven field-goal attempts last season with a career-worst 75 percent conversation rate, and punter Matt Wile in training camp. The team also has a competition at long snapper between holdover Kevin McDermott and seventh-round draft pick Austin Cutting.
"Honestly, I really like Dan Bailey," Zimmer said. "I think he's a very professional, mature kid. We've been having some issues with the three; the snap, hold, kick kind of thing. And having two long snappers, I think that's added to it a little bit because the timing is different. The holding we're working on quite a bit. I like Dan."
Zimmer has t ri ed different holders in the field-goal operation after Wile handled the job last year.
Bailey connected on all four of his extra-point attempts in the first preseason game and didn't have a field-goal try. Wile punted twice for a 42.5yard average.
A native of Norway, Vedvik spent the entire 2018 season on t he non- f ootball i njury list for Baltimore after he was assaulted in East Baltimore a day before the final cuts last year. The f ormer Marshall University standout suffered serious head and facial injuries in the attack that left him hospitalized.
Steelers receivers coach Darryl Drake dies
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receivers coach Darryl Drake, who spent more than 30 years molding some of the best players at the position at both the collegiate and professional level, has died. He was 62.
The team said Drake, who joined the coaching staff in 2018, died early Sunday morning.
Drake, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, played collegiately at Western Kentucky. He spent one season in the Canadian Football League and participated in a pair of NFL training camps before r eturning t o Western Kentucky to pursue a master's degree. He went into coaching as a graduate assistant at Western Kentucky in 1983, the beginning of a career that included stops in the college ranks at Georgia, Baylor and Texas. He coached in the NFL for the Chicago Bears and Arizona Cardinals before joining the Steelers.
Cardinals executive arrested on suspicion of DUI
Arizona Cardinals executive Ron Minegar was arrested on suspicion of DUI on Saturday night in Chandler, Arizona.
The 60-year-old Minegar is the Cardinals' executive vice president and chief operating officer. He has been with the team since 2000.
In July 2018, Cardinals general manager Steve Keim pleaded guilty to extreme DUI after being arrested by Chandler police on July 4.
Keim was suspended five weeks and fined $200,000 by the team before returning to his job.