Few positions in football can win or lose a game directly, and maybe only one, the kicker, has a chance to pull victory from the jaws of a loss but rarely gets credit for being an actual football player. The Indianapolis Colts might see the position a little differently, though.
General manager Chris Ballard doesn't mind seeing a training camp roster spot battle between kickers. Maybe he thinks it helps toughen up the player who earns the job, and that would make sense. Last year, Indy had Spencer Shrader and Maddux Trujillo in camp, but Shrader was obviously better.
The issue for Shrader was that he was injured in Week 5 against the Las Vegas Raiders, and he missed the rest of the season with a knee injury. That ultimately could cost him his job with Indy because near the end of the season, after the team had a terrible experiment with Michael Badgley, the Colts signed Blake Grupe, and he was literally perfect the rest of the way.
Indianapolis Colts should choose Blake Grupe to be their kicker in 2026
In this year's training camp, the kicker spot is going to be between Shrader and Grupe, and the winner needs to be Grupe. While Shrader is capable of accuracy within 50 yards, many times a kicker needs to win a game with a long kick, and Shrader doesn't seem to be able to do that.
Grupe has the much stronger leg, and the New Orleans Saints, his previous team, just gave up on him too soon. Their loss was Indianapolis's gain. Between Weeks 14 and 18, Grupe made all 10 of his extra points and all 11 of his field goal attempts. Just as important, he was 4-for-4 beyond 50 yards. That is the kind of kicking that should help Indy steal a game or two this season.
Spencer Shrader deserves a job somewhere in the NFL. His accuracy is valuable, but his problem is that in the current landscape of the league, many kickers are accurate beyond 50 yards, whereas 20 years ago and longer, that was far rarer. 60-yard field goals aren't that rare, either.
Last season, kickers attempted 22 field goals of 60 yards and longer, and 12 of them were made. Again, that's the difference between wins and losses, and a team desperate to make the playoffs for the first time since 2020, which is what the Indianapolis Colts are, needs to take a chance on a kicker with a stronger leg than Spencer Shrader.
The AFC South isn't going to be easy to traverse. The Houston Texans got better this offseason, and the Jacksonville Jaguars should be good again. Even the Tennessee Titans are improving. For Indianapolis to win the division for the first time since 2014, it needs all the best weapons it can get. That is Blake Grupe and not Spencer Shrader.
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