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INDIANAPOLIS – Filling the big punting shoes of Pat McAfee has turned into quite the Colts run for Rigoberto Sanchez.
On Tuesday, Sanchez and the Colts reportedly agreed to terms on a 3-year deal to keep the long-term punter in Indy.
Sanchez returned from a torn Achilles this past season to punt in all 17 games.
The former undrafted free agent had missed the entire 2022 campaign after he tore his Achilles while running sprints following a training camp practice at Grand Park.
While Sanchez had a rough opening game in his return last year, he ended up having a nice campaign.
The 6th year veteran set a career-high in net punting averaging (42.8 yards, including one block). And none of his 68 punts resulted in a touchback.
It’s extremely rare to see a punter go through an entire season without having a single touchback, but Sanchez did that.
Along with his normal punting responsibility, Sanchez continued to handle holding duties, this time for new kicker Matt Gay.
Originally, Sanchez was a 2017 undrafted free agent, beating out veteran free agent Jeff Locke for the job to replace McAfee.
The Colts signed Sanchez to a 4-year, $11.6 million deal in the 2019 offseason, with that contract now complete.
Probably the only real reason to entertain moving on from Sanchez would have been to pinch a few dollars, and not give a punter a third contract, which means the Colts are continuing to pay top-10 punter money.
In 2023, Sanchez still punted as a top-half of the league guy, in his return from missing a year.
And the Colts are making sure they will have had just 2 full-time punters since the 2009 season (McAfee: 2009-16; Sanchez: 2017-24).
