In the lead-up to the regular season, veteran Blake Grupe appeared to be trending toward being the only kicker the Indianapolis Colts had on their roster. Instead, based on preseason play, Indy kept Spencer Shrader. That questionable decision is no longer a worry: the Colts made the correct move.
To be fair, Shrader, in limited games, appeared to struggle with making long kicks last season. He was injured in Week 5, but before that, he didn't seem to have the leg strength to make kicks beyond 50 yards consistently. Maybe his knee injury helped because he appears much stronger in 2026.
In Week 3's victory against the Houston Texans, Indianapolis would have lost except for Shrader's brilliance. While Grupe was signed to the New York Jets' active roster before the season began, he hasn't attempted a kick. Meanwhile, Shrader missed the first extra point of the season, but has otherwise made all eight of his field goal attempts.
Spencer Shrader is proving the Indianapolis Colts made the correct roster decision
Against the Houston Texans, in a 19-17 victory, Shrader made all four field goals, including two beyond 50 yards. One was from 58 yards. The Colts also trusted him to make a 53-yard kick with 16 seconds left against Houston.
Head coach Shane Steichen allowed the clock to keep running near the end of the game, which would have been rightly questioned had Shrader missed the long field goal near the end of the game. Instead, those dwindling seconds proved Steichen was correct in counting on Shrader to make the kick that mattered most in the early part of the Indianapolis Colts' season.
Maybe the offense could have made it easier, but in truth, Shrader's game-winning kick would have been good from 65 yards. He has said he has made kicks from beyond 70 yards at Lucas Oil Stadium in practice and warm-ups, but hopefully he will never be put in that situation. If he is, who would doubt he could make the kick?
Besides, while he wasn't kicking off but was tasked with only making extra points and field goal attempts; he slightly injured a groin muscle in pregame warm-ups ahead of Week 3. There was some doubt he could even make field goals from any distance. Instead, he shook off whatever was ailing him and was money throughout the game.
Would Blake Grupe have been as good? Possibly, but the Indianapolis Colts didn't gamble on having Grupe prove worthy of doing so. Instead, they made the decision to keep Spencer Shrader, and that might prove to be the smartest pre-season move general manager Chris Ballard made.
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