Colts training camp battle early preview: Kicker

Honestly, the most open Indianapolis Colts training camp competition may actually be at starting kicker where incumbent Blake Grupe will be trying to hold off promising young former starting kicker Spencer Shrader.

At one point last year, the Colts kicking job was squarely Shrader’s to lose, as Indianapolis rather surprisingly released veteran placekicker Matt Gay two offseasons ago in order to re-sign the former undrafted free agent who impressed throughout 2024 training camp and preseason formerly with the club.

Shrader looked like the Colts kicker for the foreseeable future to begin the 2025 campaign, as he converted 13 of his 14 field goal attempts (92.9%), including a long of 52 yards, as well as all 14 of his extra point attempts in 5 games. He was making the Colts look very smart early on by surprisingly re-signing him.

Unfortunately, during the second quarter of a Week 5 matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders, Shrader suffered torn ACL and MCL injuries following a questionable hit by Raiders safety Tristin McCollum in his kicking follow-through on a successful extra point attempt. Shrader’s promising 2025 was cut short with season-ending injuries.

After the failed Michael Badgley stint, which lasted entirely too long for comfort, the Colts signed Blake Grupe, who like Shrader, is a Notre Dame alum and had familiarity with Indianapolis special teams coordinator Brian Mason from their prior time together with the Fighting Irish special teams units.

In relief of Badgley, Grupe picked right off where Shrader had previously left off, converting a perfect 11 of 11 field goal attempts, including a long of 60 yards, and all 10 of his extra point attempts.

While there was previously no competition for Shrader, due to the injuries, there is definitely one again.

You hate to see Shrader potentially lose his kicking job to such an arguably unnecessary football play, especially when he was having such a strong year back, but we’ve seen other players gain and lose opportunities because of injuries—and at the league’s most valuable positions.

For what it’s worth, Shrader has been fully participating in kicking drills so far this offseason.

This is one of those offseason positional competitions where I genuinely think it’ll come down to whether Shrader’s fully healthy, and ultimately, how each each kicker performs in Colts training camp and potentially even preseason. To me, it’s a true “50-50” training camp battle, meaning there’s no clear frontrunner right now.