INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Colts believe they have found their replacement for future Hall-of-Famer Adam Vinatieri.
Undrafted rookie free-agent kicker Rodrigo Blankenship has beat out Chase McLaughlin for the job, a source told ESPN.
Blankenship will be the first Week 1 kicker for the Colts not named Adam Vinatieri since 2005. He finished his four-year career at the University of Georgia by making all 200 of his extra point attempts and 80 of 97 field goal attempts (82.5%).
The Colts signed McLaughlin in December 2019, shortly before Vinatieri went on injured reserve with a knee injury. McLaughlin was 5-of-6 on field goals and a perfect 11-of-11 on extra points in four games with Indianapolis last season.
Vinatieri, the NFL’s all-time leading scorer, spent 14 seasons of his 24-year NFL career with the Colts. He battled the knee problem and had one of the worst seasons of his career in 2019, making a career-low 68% of his field goal attempts and 78.6% of his extra point attempts. Three of Vinatieri’s 14 missed kicks were blocked.
