Yahoo Sports After brutal beating last year, Ravens' Kaare Vedvik is one of NFL preseason's biggest trade chips
Kaare Vedvik lost his season, as well as a few teeth, when a violent robbery spoiled a promising preseason last year. Now, he might be kicking his way onto another team’s roster.
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The Baltimore Ravens back-up kicker boosted his trade value on Thursday when he went four-for-four on field goals against the Jacksonville Jaguars, with makes from 55, 45, 26 and 29 yards.
Justin Tucker went full-on proud Dad after his backup nailed the 55 yarder 😭 @jtuck9 @KaareVedvik pic.twitter.com/yR03JE4alU
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) August 9, 2019
Normally, a performance like that would make a fanbase excited for a new young kicker. Unfortunately for Vedvik, he’s playing on a team that has Justin Tucker, which means there’s no place for him on the Ravens barring absolute disaster.
With Tucker in place, the Ravens’ plan for Vedvik is to trade him for draft picks, per ESPN’s Jamison Hensley. Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said as much earlier in the offseason.
I fully expect that he’ll kick well enough for us to trade him. That’s kind of, I would say, the goal,” Harbaugh said. “I think we’re really set with our specialists. Obviously, we’re not looking to make a change there in all seriousness. But he’s capable of kicking in the NFL. We probably could have traded him last year.”
Why didn’t the Ravens trade Vedvik last year?
The Ravens probably hoped to trade Vedvik after last preseason, but a brutal development stopped those plans.
Days before the season started, Vedvik as assaulted and robbed in an incident that reportedly left him with head injuries and his teeth knocked out. Rather than suit up for another team, Vedvik ended up on reserve/non-football injury list and never appeared in the regular season.
Where could Kaare Vedvik be traded?
The good news for the Ravens is that there is always a shortage of quality kickers in the NFL, and they seem to have two of them between Tucker and Vedvik.
In addition to his 4-for-4 night on Thursday, Vedvik was 8-for-9 on field goals last season with a 56-yard make among them. He’s also quite a punter too, booting a 58- and 53-yarder against the Jaguars.
ESPN listed the Chicago Bears, Arizona Cardinals and New York Jets as teams with questionable kicking situations who could be in the market for Vedvik. The Bears in particular seem to be a natural landing spot, given their infamous kicking woes.
The Chicago Tribune has already speculated Vedvik could end up in Chicago if current kickers Elliott Fry and Eddy Pineiro don’t look up to snuff, though Fry did manage to exorcise some demons during a preseason game Thursday.
A similar scenario worked out quite well for the New Orleans Saints in 2016 when they scooped up Wil Lutz after he was waived by the Ravens following a strong preseason. In three seasons with New Orleans, Lutz has made 87 of 100 field goals and recently signed a five-year extension.
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