The Colts are bringing in a familiar face for a second kicking leg this offseason. Can he impress yet again?
On Thursday, the Indianapolis Colts announced the re-signing of free agent placekicker Spencer Shrader, who spent all of 2024’s training camp and even played a game for the Horseshoe last regular season.
The former 2024 undrafted rookie from Notre Dame was 5 for 5 from field goal range during his debut pro campaign—including a long of 45 yards, and was a perfect 9 for 9 on extra point attempts.
As a a rookie, Shrader appeared in 4 total games with the Colts (1), New York Jets (1), and Kansas City Chiefs (2) this past season. His first season ended with the Chiefs placing him on injured reserve in early December of last year.
It’s normal for an NFL team to bring in an extra kicking leg for training camp and preseason. However, the Colts normally go for an undrafted rookie free agent kicker for their 2nd leg.
From that standpoint, this is at least somewhat unusual, but given their prior familiarity with Shrader, maybe it’s not at all. Perhaps they don’t like this class of rookie kickers either.
There shouldn’t be a kicking controversy in Indianapolis, as starting veteran Matt Gay was 31 for 37 last year (83.8%)—with a long of 56 yards, and a pristine 33 for 33 from XP-land.
Even if the Colts would cut him, they’d still have to eat $4M of dead money of his $6.75M 2025 cap hit, so there’s not much to gain there. It is some camp competition though.
It’s more surprising to me that Shrader wasn’t able to land in more of a wide open offseason kicking competition as at least a legitimate challenger to the current incumbent.
That doesn’t realistically appear to be in Indianapolis with the former Pro Bowler Gay, who remains one of the game’s highest paid kickers. Maybe an injury could happen though.
Reports: Chiefs sign QB Gardner Minshew II
The Kansas City Chiefs reached a one-year agreement with quarterback Gardner Minshew II, per multiple media reports.
Minshew has played six NFL seasons, spending time with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Philadelphia Eagles, Indianapolis Colts, and Las Vegas Raiders.
In 2023, Minshew got the opportunity to be a starter for the Colts, securing his first Pro Bowl selection in the process. Across 17 games (13 starts), he threw for 3,305 yards, 15 touchdowns and nine interceptions. On the ground, he rushed for 100 yards and three touchdowns.
As a starter, he led the Colts to a 7-6 record.
Coming off a successful campaign, he signed a two-year contract with the Raiders last offseason. However, he went 2-7 as the starter, throwing for 2,013 yards, nine touchdowns and a career-high 10 interceptions. His passer rating of 81.0 marked a career low.
The Raiders elected to release him earlier this month.
Minshew is coming off an underwhelming season, but the former Pro Bowl signal-caller will be one of the most accomplished backup quarterbacks in the league. With 46 career starts under his belt, he gives the Chiefs insurance behind Patrick Mahomes.