MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Vikings have their new kicker.

The team announced on Wednesday it had signed Kai Forbath to replace Blair Walsh, whom the Vikings released Tuesday after his fourth missed extra point of the season.

"It was just something we felt like we needed to do, kind of move forward," coach Mike Zimmer said. "We're all accountable for the things we have to get done, and I think we gave him a lot of opportunities. Although, Blair's a great kid, and it was hard to do."

Forbath, who kicked for the Washington Redskins from 2012 to 2015 and spent part of the 2015 season with the New Orleans Saints, and was one of six kickers to try out for the Vikings last week, after Walsh missed an extra point and had a field goal attempt blocked against the Detroit Lions on Nov. 6.

Sunday was another rough outing for Blair Walsh with the Vikings. Walsh missed an extra point and had a field goal attempt blocked on Sunday, and the team has now replaced him with Kai Forbath. AP Photo/Andy Clayton-King, File

Forbath, who played with Vikings punter Jeff Locke and long snapper Kevin McDermott at UCLA from 2008 to 2010, made 60 of his 69 career field goal attempts with the Redskins but struggled in New Orleans last year, going 10-for-15 on field goal attempts.

"It actually is pretty crazy," Forbath said Wednesday. "We train together every offseason - me, Jeff, Blair and Kevin. That's like our little group in the offseason. It's a tough business and I've learned it. And it's too bad (Walsh) is having to go through it now, too."

He'll get a chance to turn things around with the Vikings after the team decided to release Walsh, who'd struggled for stretches of the 2016 season after missing a 27-yard attempt in the team's NFC wild-card loss to the Seattle Seahawks in January.

Walsh, who signed a four-year, $13 million contract extension with the Vikings in July 2015, is still owed $1.5 million on his signing bonus next spring. The Vikings will count Walsh for $1.78 million against their 2016 salary cap and had just more than $900,000 in cap space to start the week, before signing tackle Rashod Hill on Tuesday and Forbath on Wednesday.