By Lindsey Young
The Vikings have added a second punter to the roster.
Minnesota signed free agent Seth Vernon, the team announced Tuesday.
Mostly recently, Vernon spent the 2022 offseason and training camp with the Atlanta Falcons, who signed him as an undrafted rookie. He was released on Aug. 16, 2022.
Vernon was a standout at Portland State, who also are the Vikings.
As a senior in 2021, he averaged 44.9 yards per punt. He averaged 54.8 yards on six punts in his only game of the 2020 season (remaining games were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic). In 2019, he averaged 43.2 yards per boot.
Over his time at Portland State, Vernon recorded 93 punts with an average of 44.6 yards per kick. He downed 27 punts inside the 20-yard line and recorded 29 punts of 50 or more yards.
Vernon's career average ranks second in Portland State history.
A native of Santa Rosa, California, Vernon attended Maria Carrillo High School before starting his collegiate career at Santa Rosa Junior College.
Vernon is the second punter on Minnesota's roster. He joins Ryan Wright, who also was signed as an undrafted rookie in the spring of 2022. In 34 regular-season games for the Vikings, Wright has recorded 132 punts for 6,343 yards (48.1 average) with eight touchbacks and 49 punts downed inside the 20.
Vernon and Wright will be part of a Vikings specialist room that also includes veteran long snapper Andrew DePaola and two new kickers: John Parker Romo, who joined Minnesota as a free agent this spring, and Will Reichard, whom the Vikings drafted 203rd overall out of Alabama.
