Vikings sacrifice extra points in signing Forbath

The Vikings have reportedly resigned kicker Kai Forbath to a one year deal and in doing so are sacrificing the extra point.

Extra points have become somewhat of a crap shoot since the NFL moved the extra point back to the 15 yard line in 2015, Kai Forbath was no exception. In his previous NFL seasons, the sixth year kicker had never finished lower than 96% on his extra points.

Forbath finished 31st in extra point percentage (87.2%) in the NFL last season, and in his first stretch for the Vikings after the Blair Walsh situation in 2016, Forbath only made 78% of his extra points. These are not good numbers and could wind up hurting your team in the long run.
We should give credit where it is due, Forbath has been very consistent in his other field goal attempts. In 2016 Forbath did not miss a single field goal attempt and was solid from 20-49 yards in 2017, only missing three kicks from that distance all season.

In the divisional playoff round game against New Orleans, he made two big kicks late in that game to keep them in the game and give them a chance to complete the Minneapolis Miracle. Given the Vikings history with missing big kicks from kickers who don’t miss much during the regular season, would you have had confidence in Forbath making a game winning kick in that situation?

It is apparent that the Vikings are willing to sacrifice missing extra points for some consistency from long-range, a luxury they did not have while Blair Walsh was kicking for them.