The Indianapolis Colts unexpectedly had a rotation of kickers in 2025. Spencer Shrader started the season and was off to a solid start, but then he hurt his knee in Week 5 against the Los Angeles Raiders. The team finished with Blake Grupe.
In between was Michael Badgley, who had no issues making field goals but struggled with easier extra points. After missing his third, the team released him. Grupe was good as his replacement, even while the team couldn't seem to win any games.
Assuming Shrader is healthy enough to return in 2026, which is expected, Indianapolis could have a real kicker battle. Grupe is a restricted free agent, so Indy basically needs to match any offer another team gives the kicker. Carrying two kickers into training camp is a real possibility. The answer to who to keep might already have been provided by a new kicking metric, though.
Kick Value Added may have decided who should be the Indianapolis Colts kicker in 2026
FanSided has recently released Kick Value Added (KVA), "a brand-new, proprietary metric designed to evaluate NFL kicking performance in a way that hasn’t existed before." While the metric gets mathy, the idea behind it is simple.
Not all kicks are created equal, after all. A made kick from 60 yards should be more valuable than one made from 30 yards. These factors are included in the new metric.
A made 60-yard field goal adds a value of +1.044 expected points. A made 30-yarder adds +0.147 expected points. A missed 60-yard field goal attempt takes away less value than a 30-yarder because the longer field goal is, well...tougher.
Shrader ranks higher than Grupe in a rating of all the kickers from the 2025 season. This is the case even though Grupe has the stronger leg. Shrader didn't make a 50-yard field goal this season, and only attempted one.
Grupe, meanwhile, made all four of his beyond-50-yard attempts for the Colts, but missed three of six from that range when he was with the New Orleans Saints earlier in the season. Maybe if Grupe had played the entire season for Indianapolis, he would have ranked higher than 41.
Shrader, however, ranks 18. Of note, too, is that while he hasn't made a kick beyond 50 yards in his career yet, he did make a 54-yarder for Notre Dame in college, and that is still the record for the Fighting Irish. In other words, he likely can make long field goals.
The key is that he has been more reliable on all of his attempts than Grupe in their respective careers. If the Indianapolis Colts need a deciding factor for who they should keep on the 2026 roster at kicker, they likely need to look no further than Kick Value Added. Spencer Shrader would be the answer.