Last year the Colts started the season with Spencer Shrader as their kicker and finished the season with Blake Grupe taking Shrader’s place after an injury. This offseason the two kickers have been competing to make the roster, and with less than a week to go before cutdown day, it remains a close competition.
“I don’t think we could really go wrong,” Colts special teams coordinator Brian Mason said, via JJ Stankevitz Colts.com. “I think we have two really good kickers that are talented that can get the job done for us, and I think whichever one we go with is going to be really, really good for us.”
Grupe has been a little better on the practice field in training camp, but Shrader has been better in the preseason, making a 61-yard field goal against the Patriots and 48- and 53-yard field goals against the Falcons, while Grupe missed a 36-yarder against the Falcons.
Mason said kicks under game conditions matter the most, but the Colts will give both kickers some high-pressure situations on the practice field this week before the preseason finale.
“We have two really good kickers,” Mason said. “We’re not going to judge somebody on one day or judge somebody in the first two weeks. We’re going to see how do they progress through training camp, and who do we believe can be the best starting kicker for us for 17 regular season games, and then hopefully into the playoffs, right? So, that’s not just based on statistics. It’s based on hey, who’s kicking the best right now that we think can kick the best over the entire regular season.”
It’s a big decision for the Colts, one that needs to be made by Sunday.
