Colts: Indy already signing kicker behind Rodrigo Blankenship is bad sign
By Adam Weinrib
Colts kicker Rodrigo Blankenship’s performance may have indicated he needs a security blanket as the team works out Matt Gay.
Rodrigo Blankenship’s presence on the Indianapolis roster may have launched 1,000 memes and extended the very impressive Colts UDFA streak, but the team can’t exactly be thrilled with his Week 1 performance.
In fact, just about a week after Blankenship defeated incumbent Chase McLaughlin in the Race to Replace Adam Vinatieri, the team is already window-shopping replacements, if not pulling out their wallet outright.
The rookie’s debut featured a 2-out-of-3 performance with a long of 38, both extra points converted, and a miss from just 30 yards out. In other words, without the glasses and the cache, it wouldn’t be newsworthy that Matt Gay, formerly of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was already being brought into the facility for a tryout on Tuesday afternoon. Shortly thereafter, he was added to the practice squad officially.
Uh oh.
We have signed K Matt Gay to the practice squad and released DE Gerri Green from the practice squad.
— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) September 15, 2020
Blankenship made it clear this offseason that he’s not fazed by very much, but this has to shake his faith in his own job security, at least a little bit.
Gay was no great shakes in 2019, either, nailing just 27 of 35 kicks and famously missing late in the Giants-Bucs game that represented Daniel Jones’ emergence. Prior to 2020, he was jettisoned in favor of Ryan Succop.
All of this isn’t to say that Blankenship’s leash is perilously short, but everything looks worse after a loss, when the spotlights tend to sniff out failure. Blankenship’s old foe McLaughlin is protected on the Vikings’ practice squad, and we wouldn’t be shocked if that’s the direction the Colts go with Gay, too, presuming he passes his initial test.
After all, Blankenship made it clear last week that he was far from a shoo-in to win the job as the final horn sounded.
Rodrigo Blankenship is talking with local media. Says the Colts kicking competition was "neck and neck" and he had no indication which way it would go.
— Stephen Holder (@HolderStephen) September 8, 2020
Now, just one week in, so far so eh.
If the competition was close last week, then it would certainly make sense that the team would already be exploring alternatives, especially after losing what was presumed to be their easiest game of the season.
