Vikings’ Myles Price reflects on first games of NFL career

A memorable inaugural voyage is now complete for the Minnesota Vikings’ Myles Price.

“First time out the country,” said Price, before the team left for Europe. “I just got my passport when I came up here.”

Price, the Vikings’ kick and punt returner, impressed in camp. He won the job as an undrafted rookie free agent. Now, five games into his NFL career, he often looks on the verge of making a house call.

“Yeah, every time I touch it, I think I’m about to break it,” Price said. “That’s just how I am. I know it’s coming. Just trying to pick and choose which ones I wanna take my chances with and leave it in God’s hands. Whatever happens, happens.”

Though he excelled at Texas Tech and Indiana, Price never returned a punt or kick for a touchdown in college.

As a wide receiver deep on the depth chart for the Vikings, his time in warm-ups is best spent studying the sightlines and the opposing specialists.

“I try to get out there and see how the punters are hitting,” Price said. “Reading the ball. If you notice, a lot of times if I’m not fielding it, I’ll watch where the ball is, and I’ll try to point to where it’s going to land. Reading it, tracking it. Finally when I get under the ball, just making sure I have poised feet, empty mind, and just making sure I’m catching the ball up high and tight. That’s really how I am when it comes to returning punts.”

There’s a direct corollary between a baseball outfielder getting behind a fly ball to throw out a runner, and a returner’s ideal positioning when the ball is in the air.

“Yeah, that’s a big part of tracking the ball. When you track it really good, you’re gonna most times be behind the ball,” Price said.