Been waiting a while to say this...
Daniel Carlson sucks...lol
Remember Daniel Carlson? The two-time All-Pro kicker for the Las Vegas Raiders, who played for the Minnesota Vikings once upon a time? He’s hit a rough patch — so much so that Las Vegas added another kicker to hedge the bet.
A one-time elite Vikings kicker is losing his touch. Once automatic under pressure, his recent struggles suggest the magic might finally be gone.
Carlson is too young for an age-related decline, but his performance in 2025 is turning heads and not in a good way.
Ex-Vikings Kicker Daniel Carlson Falls on Harsh Times
The man will need a rebound.
The future, at least for now, looks bleak for Carlson.
Sporting News‘ Mike Moraitis wrote this week, “It has been a tough season for Las Vegas Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson. The normally reliable Carlson is in the midst of one of his worst seasons as a pro, with the veteran kicker making just 75% of his field goals, which is slightly better than Carlson’s career-worst 73.1% success rate from 2019. This is clearly the Raiders putting Carlson on notice that he has to shape up or he could lose his job.”
Until recently — Vikings fans know this well — Carlson has served as one of the NFL’s best kickers, often a diamond in the rough on a habitually shaky team.
Now, Carlson has joined the doldrums.
The Numbers
Carlson has connected on 12 of 16 field goals in 2025, which might sound harmless to a casual football fan, but in kicker speak, 75% is awful.
The low 75% through 10 weeks ranks 33rd of 39 kickers in the business, making Carlson a bottom-10 kicker leaguewide at the moment. Carlson has also missed an extra point this season, and his special teams coach was fired last week.
For the second time in his career, Carlson has hit a rough patch. When it happened seven years ago, he responded marvelously and shapeshifted into an All-Pro kicker.
The Contingency Plan
In a bit of an ironic twist, the Raiders signed another former Vikings kicker this week as Carlson insurance: Greg Joseph.
Joseph held down the fort at kicker in Minnesota at the very end of the Mike Zimmer era and stuck around through the end of 2023 until the Vikings drafted Will Reichard.
On November 6, 2025, in Denver, Colorado, Las Vegas Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson (8) reacted after missing a second-half field goal attempt against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High. The usually steady veteran showed rare frustration as the kick sailed wide, marking one of his few off-target moments during an otherwise consistent 2025 campaign for Las Vegas. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images.
For now, Joseph lives on the practice squad, but Las Vegas signing him at all implies that Carlson will have a short leash. It’s his first brush with real job security questions since his unceremonious exit from Minnesota in 2018.
The Path Forward
Head coach Pete Carroll said about Carlson’s woes this week, “The ball’s just got to go through the freaking hoop. We just got to make them. That’s all there is to it. We’ve been so close that one kick in this game, one kick in that game has made a difference, and our season would be somewhat different if we could get him to answer, but, unfortunately, we’re putting him in long situations at the end of the game, and it’s as difficult as it can get.”
“And we really trust in him and believe in him and are counting on him to come through. The ball will go a mile up here in this place in Denver.”
That sounds like a frustrated skipper, one who may not hesitate to roll with Joseph if Carlson’s rut persists.
JustBlogBaby.com‘s Levi Dombro opined this week, “Once an All-Pro in his heyday, Carlson’s production has dropped off quite a bit in recent seasons. Many thought he would earn another contract with the Silver and Black, but the way he’s played this year would indicate he’s closer to having one foot out the door.”
“Pete Carroll has talked extensively about competing since he came to Las Vegas, but somehow, Carlson was exempt from this, despite his shortcomings. After another poor showing in Week 10, however, the Raiders finally added some competition at kicker.”
Carlson is just 30 years old, much too young to experience a production downturn.
Dombro added, “But it is underwhelming, at best. Carlson certainly needs a fire lit under him, as the only kickers that the Raiders have signed in recent years have been insurance policies when Carlson is banged up. It’s good for Las Vegas to have another leg in the building, certainly, if Carlson’s struggles continue. But Joseph does not seem to be much of an upgrade at this juncture. Of course, Carlson didn’t either when he was signed by the Raiders, so anything is possible.”
“However, fans are hoping that Carlson takes this bit of motivation and turns it into success on the field, as he’ll always be a fan favorite.’
Carlson is also scheduled to hit free agency in four months. If 2018 were a reasonable indicator, he’d probably rebound just fine with a new team.
Source: https://vikingsterritory.com/2025/news/analysis/one-former-viking-magic
greediron wrote:
He always seemed a bit fragile. I think Zimmer was too quick to cut him, he is talented, but seems a bit shakey in the mental side.
No doubt Zimmer cut him too quickly. He had been money for the Raiders. Not sure Zimmer's crusty demeanor is all that well suited for a kicker.
I'm hoping Will the Thrill's issues last year were indeed all physical and not mental
Just bad juju out in Vegas these days...
I'm not going to say anything about Will, other than I am glad he's a Viking.
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
badgervike wrote:
No doubt Zimmer cut him too quickly. He had been money for the Raiders. Not sure Zimmer's crusty demeanor is all that well suited for a kicker.
I'm hoping Will the Thrill's issues last year were indeed all physical and not mental
Reichard has been awesome this year just like he was prior to the quad injury. I'm sure it was a bit mental and physical. Look at McManus who was kicking good for the Packers, had a quad injury, came back, and now he's been very inconsistent the last 2 or 3 games since the injury.
I wouldn't worry about Will Reichard at all. Dude is money.
I see where Romo just got the hook recently as well.
Not really a Daniel Carlson thing, but more just a kicker thing in general.
It’s just really hard to be perfect all the time … forever, and that’s what coaches expect.
Kickers sometimes just get in a funk.
Interesting. I guess I don't watch enough of that casino fire in Vegas to know that he'd been struggling. But as someone mentioned, the whole mojo in that town is bad. He's probably just caught up in it.
I do love our Baby-faced Assassin though. Just looked at the kicker stats and there are SIX kickers with a 60+ yard FG. When they changed that football rule, everything jumped 10 yards. A 60 yarder today is what a 50 yarder was 10 years ago. Remember Tom Dempsey's 63-yard record? Lasted 43 years. There have been three FGs JUST THIS YEAR that have been longer.
MaroonBells wrote:
Interesting. I guess I don't watch enough of that casino fire in Vegas to know that he'd been struggling. But as someone mentioned, the whole mojo in that town is bad. He's probably just caught up in it.I do love our Baby-faced Assassin though. Just looked at the kicker stats and there are SIX kickers with a 60+ yard FG. When they changed that football rule, everything jumped 10 yards. A 60 yarder today is what a 50 yarder was 10 years ago. Remember Tom Dempsey's 63-yard record? Lasted 43 years. There have been three FGs JUST THIS YEAR that have been longer.
Carroll was a mistake in retrospect and their QB is a problem. Safest bet in the world is Brady selects a QB next draft.
I showed my wife a pix of Will, she didnt believe me that he was a Viking and not a 10th grader going to high school nearby.
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
purplefaithful wrote:
Carroll was a mistake in retrospect and their QB is a problem. Safest bet in the world is Brady selects a QB next draft.
I showed my wife a pix of Will, she didnt believe me that he was a Viking and not a 10th grader going to high school nearby.
Missing out on Penix/McCarthy/Nix was the gasoline on top of the ongoing Raiders dumpster fire. They screwed that up and then were forced to start Minshew and O'Connell for a year. And now they went and got Pete Carroll and Geno Smith in an effort to become at least competent on offense, and it hasn't worked at all.
They did draft Brock Bowers and Jeanty, both of whom can really play, but without a quarterback it's a moot point. If there was ever a team that needs to tank and make 100% sure they get a top 1-2-3 pick-- wherever the "cutoff" is this year to get an elite QB prospect-- it's Las Vegas.
Oh and if they do actually draft the next great QB, they still have maybe the worst O-Line in football and a brutal secondary. And maybe no coaches worth saving. And a mess of a front office. Sweet stadium though and I've always kinda liked Brady.
medaille wrote:
Not really a Daniel Carlson thing, but more just a kicker thing in general.It’s just really hard to be perfect all the time … forever, and that’s what coaches expect.
Kickers sometimes just get in a funk.
Exactly this.
We are talking about a position that practices away from the full team, doesn't have to be in shape (see Janikowski), and is getting paid for attempting to kick a ball for less than a minute total per game. It's like a halftime/intermission show event every time the kicker steps on the field. You get a big check/paid if you make the field goal, bucket, shot, etc.
Similar to golf, all eyes are on only you. Yes, QBs, batters, PKs, shootouts, etc, but all of those other positions allow you the opportunity to do something else and excel in another area like other shots/putting, scrambling, defense, the actual game, etc. Yes, most kickers kick off, but no one cares unless they can't kick it far enough (which if they can't consistently they won't have kickoff duties) or if they kick it out of bounds, which adds to the pressure even more as you're only noticed when you do something bad in that facet of the game.
Almost every single kicker in the history of the game has gone through a challenging time and that could mean a change of scenery and/or a coach/team willing to weather the storm.
Carlson was a solid kicker, he just had a bad day and Zimmer probably provided the most irrational response ever by cutting him. Zimmer's ego got in the way of a lot of things for him to be successful, IMO, but cutting Carlson still wasn't the worst, even though I was livid when it happened.
IceRatz16 wrote:
Exactly this.
We are talking about a position that practices away from the full team, doesn't have to be in shape (see Janikowski), and is getting paid for attempting to kick a ball for less than a minute total per game. It's like a halftime/intermission show event every time the kicker steps on the field. You get a big check/paid if you make the field goal, bucket, shot, etc.
Similar to golf, all eyes are on only you. Yes, QBs, batters, PKs, shootouts, etc, but all of those other positions allow you the opportunity to do something else and excel in another area like other shots/putting, scrambling, defense, the actual game, etc. Yes, most kickers kick off, but no one cares unless they can't kick it far enough (which if they can't consistently they won't have kickoff duties) or if they kick it out of bounds, which adds to the pressure even more as you're only noticed when you do something bad in that facet of the game.
Almost every single kicker in the history of the game has gone through a challenging time and that could mean a change of scenery and/or a coach/team willing to weather the storm.
Carlson was a solid kicker, he just had a bad day and Zimmer probably provided the most irrational response ever by cutting him. Zimmer's ego got in the way of a lot of things for him to be successful, IMO, but cutting Carlson still wasn't the worst, even though I was livid when it happened.
The other big issue with kickers is that when the screw up, their chance at redemption doesn't come for quite a while. I remember Walsh after he missed the FG in preseason I think (the season after he shanked the playoff game) He missed again against the seahawks and you could see his demeanor on the sidelines. He had to sit and stew.
Most other players get a chance at redemption the next drive. Kickers don't. So they have to live in their head for long stretches.
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