Three months after being cut by the Vikings, Blair Walsh is headed to the one city where his infamous playoff choke won't be held against him: Seattle.
The Seahawks announced Thursday that they've added Walsh to their roster. The move comes roughly one year after Walsh shanked a 27-yard field goal against the Seahawks in the playoffs that allowed Seattle to escape Minnesota with a 10-9 playoff victory following the 2015 season.
Although the Vikings kept Walsh around to start the 2016 season, he never seemed to psychologically recover from the miss against Seattle. During the 2016 season, Walsh had the lowest extra point percentage at 78.9 percent (15 of 19), which might have been fine if he had been able to connect on his field goal attempts, but he couldn't make those, either.
Walsh also had the NFL's second-lowest field goal percentage. The team cut Walsh after a 26-20 loss to the Redskins in Week 10 where he missed a crucial extra point.
In Seattle, Walsh will compete with Steven Hauschka, who also struggled during the 2016 regular season. Hauschka only hit 25 of 29 extra points last season, an 82.9 percent accuracy mark that was only better than Walsh and Mike Nugent.
Hauschka was much better on field goals, hitting 33 of 37, which ranked fourth in the NFL at 89.2 percent. And yes, that means Hauschka was more accurate on field goals than he was on extra points.
The missed extra points really seemed to bother coach Pete Carroll, who noted that his kicker "had gotten into a little stink with kicking the extra points."
Although Hauschka will be a free agent in March, it seems the team's plan is to hold on to him and have a competition as the team's official website noted that Walsh was brought in to compete with Hauschka. However, that doesn't mean Hauschka will want to stay.
The Walsh signing could be perceived as a slap in the face, which could led the veteran Seahawks kicker to seek another team.