Colts Notebook: Sauce Gardner
Colts Notebook: Sauce Gardner To Miss Time With Calf Injury
- Colts' CB Sauce Gardner to miss games with calf injury, Achilles unaffected.
- Kicker Michael Badgley has missed 3 extra points for Colts, team may hold tryouts.
- Several kickers who tried out for Colts in October remain available for consideration.
INDIANAPOLIS – On the first day of December, the Colts had a couple of newsy items to address with their AFC South lead gone.
Let’s take a closer look at the updates on Sauce Gardner and Michael Badgley:
Sauce Gardner To Miss Time
The Colts have avoided the worst-case scenario with Sauce Gardner’s injury situation.
After further imaging on Monday, Gardner did suffer a calf injury in Sunday’s loss to the Texans and is going to miss some game action, but a 4-week stay on injured reserve is not being discussed, Shane Steichen said on Monday.
The Colts head coach added the Gardner’s Achilles is “good to go,” so a serious injury has been avoided.
A handful of games remain in the 2025 regular season (at Jaguars, at Seahawks, 49ers, Jaguars, at Texans), so Gardner should return at some point in the earlier part of that stretch. Earlier in 2025, Kenny Moore II suffered a calf injury and ended up missing 3 games.
Without Gardner, it’ll be interesting to see if the Colts opt to use Kenny Moore II more as an outside cornerback in the base defense, versus a combination of Mekhi Blackmon and Jaylon Jones.
On Sunday, it was Blackmon outsnapping Jones, 46 to 31, once Gardner exited.
The Colts will definitely need more from Ward, who admitted on Monday he has not played up to his normal standard since returning from a month-long concussion.
“I just got to get my mind right and my heart right,” Ward said on Monday. “Once I get my mind right, my heart right, I think my physical body and the way I perform, that’ll be good. But as long as my mind is cloudy, I don’t play good all the time.
“So just trying to focus in, lock in, get focused and I think I’ll start playing better.”
Kicker Tryouts Coming?
Shane Steichen was noncommittal on Monday when asked if the team will be holding kicker tryouts for a second time this season.
“Chris (Ballard) and his staff handle all that stuff, so I’ll defer to Chris on those things,” Steichen said on Monday.
A second round of kicker tryouts this time would be for performance, not injury, as Michael Badgley has struggled in the extra point department since joining the Colts.
Badgley has missed 3 extra points in 7 games with the Colts.
That’s an extremely alarming number for a player who the Colts brought in believing he’d hit those layups.
The Colts always knew there were questions about the leg strength of Badgley, and we’ve seen that, with Steichen having to adjust his play-calling/decision-making around longer distance field goals.
But Badgley been a steady kicker in his career, particularly from shorter distances.
“Badg knows he’s got to make the PATs,” Steichen said on Monday.
“I love Badg. I love Badg the player, I love Badg the person. And we’ll see where it goes. Whoever is out there kicking for us, we have a ton of faith in whoever that is. Badg has done a hell of a job. He’s made big-time kicks for us, but obviously we’ve got to make the past there.”
Given the struggles though from Badgley, the Colts would be naïve to ignore them.
If they want to explore the tryout market again, several of the names the team worked out back on October 7th are still available.
Veterans like Dustin Hopkins, Josh Lambo and Matt Ammendolda all worked out for the Colts back in October and remain on the open market.
If the Colts are looking at a kicker who has kicked here in 2025, a trio from that October tryout have recently kicked around the league:
–Lucas Havrisik: Currently on the Packers practice squad, Havrisik has kicked for the Packers in 3 games this season: 7-of-9 on extra points and 4/4 on field goals. Havrisik did make a 61-yard field goal and kicked off for Green Bay, too.
–Harrison Mevis: Currently on the Rams practice squad, Mevis filled in nicely when LA needed him for 4 games. Mevis was a perfect 17-of-17 on extra points and 2-of-2 on field goals, including one from 52 yards. Mevis did kickoff for the Rams, too.
–Mattthew Wright: Recently cut by the Texans, Wright has kicked in 4 games this season, for the Texans, Titans and Commanders. Wright was 5-of-5 on field goals and 4-of-4 on extra points in those games, also handling kickoff duties.
Back in October, the Colts held their kicker tryout on a Tuesday before reconvening as a team the following day to begin their weekly prep.
So keep an eye on that news in the next 24 hours.
