Colts: Is Rodrigo Blankenship going to lose his job to Michael Badgley?

A year ago, the Indianapolis Colts scooping up Rodrigo Blankenship, the nation’s top kicker coming out of college, as an undrafted free agent looked like a stroke of genius.

He had a very good rookie season, too. As the Colts’ starting kicker, Blankenship went 43-of-45 on extra-point attempts and 32-of-37 on field goal attempts. That’s 95.6% on XPs and 86.5% on FGs. Who wouldn’t take that from a 23-year-old?

Well, not quite. We guess that missed chip-shot field goal in last year’s playoff game against the Bills put Blankenship on thin ice because the Colts brought in extra competition during training camp. The former Georgia star passed the test, though.

We’re not sure if he’ll survive his latest hip injury, however, considering he’s about to miss his fourth game. Michael Badgely is performing well in his absence, and head coach Frank Reich doesn’t have an answer in regard to who will be the starter once Blankenship is fully healthy.

Is Colts kicker Rodrigo Blankenship about to lose his starting job?

When asked who would be the starting kicker when Blankenship is ready to return to the field, Reich said, “We haven’t even discussed that yet.”

If this situation didn’t have any context to it, it’s possible we might not be paying it any attention. However, the lack of consistent votes of confidence ever since last year’s playoff game suggest something could be afoot, especially after Badgley’s performance.

He’s 11-for-11 on extra-point attempts and 3-for-3 on field goal attempts in three games. Did his clutch efforts against the Titans on Sunday sway the coaching staff? Or did his performance in the pouring rain against the 49ers the week prior?

Perhaps the Colts prefer a booming leg, which isn’t something Blankenship possesses. He’s famously been short on many long field goals. On the flip side, however, Badgley can kick the ball a mile but struggles with accuracy.

All in all, Blankenship’s end to the 2020 season, which featured three missed field goals on six attempts and his back-breaking missed kicks against the Titans and Ravens this year, the writing could be on the wall, especially if Badgley puts forth another solid performance against the Jets on Thursday night.

We didn’t think it’d come to this, but at what point did you think anything with the Colts in 2021 wouldn’t be dysfunctional?

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