Colts Waive Kicker Michael Badgley
- Colts have used 3 kickers this season, an unprecedented move.
- Colts looking for a kicker who can consistently make extra points and short field goals.
- Veteran kicker Blake Grupe, with ties to Colts' special teams coordinator, is a potential replacement.
INDIANAPOLIS – For the first time in franchise history, the Colts are turning to a 3rd different placekicker in a season.
With the injury to Spencer Shrader and now the “inexcusable” performance of Michael Badgley, the team will trot out another kicker this Sunday in Jacksonville.
On Tuesday afternoon, the team waived Badgley. A 3-kicker tryout occurred between veteran kicker Justin Tucker, Blake Grupe and rookie Maddox Trujillo, who spent training camp with the Colts in a competition with Spencer Shrader.
Colts special teams coordinator Brian Mason met the media on Tuesday and he gave his thoughts on Badgley, who missed 3 extra points in 7 games with the Colts.
“We have to be able to make the layups and the free throws that we have, especially PATs,” Mason said on Tuesday, prior to Badgley’s official release. “We’ve missed three PATs in seven games. It’s inexcusable. We all know that.”
As Mason pointed out on Tuesday, anytime you are looking for kickers in December, the options are far from top shelf.
Ideally, the Colts would be pursuing a talented, bigger legged kicker (a la Spencer Shrader). That’s unrealistic though.
“We’re looking for somebody that’s experienced, that we know can handle pressure, that we know can be consistent to be able to make kicks within games,” Mason explained on Tuesday.
“Obviously, everybody would love somebody that can make 60-yard field goals and make all their PATs and make consistent field goals. But as we’re looking at things right now, we’re looking hey, who can make PATs and be reliable to make kicks within 50? Who we can trust to be able to do that for the next five weeks and then into the playoffs, to be able to make kicks outdoors that we know can handle that pressure? So, we’re really looking who has experience, who can be consistent that can be relied upon to make their free throws and layups, that we can depend on.”
With a kicker tryout taking place this week, the Colts still have a few names available that they had worked out back in early October.
But NFL Network reported on Tuesday the Colts were going to bring veteran kicker Blake Grupe, who the Saints cut last week, onto their practice squad. The Colts can then promote Grupe to the 53-man roster for 3 games before needing to make a permanent 53-man roster decision on him. For now, Badgley’s spot on the 53-man roster remains open (will linebacker Jaylon Carlies fill it this weekend?).
Grupe has direct ties to Mason and the Colts.
Back in 2022, Grupe transferred from Arkansas State to Notre Dame, where Mason was the special teams coordinator under Marcus Freeman.
Grupe went 14-of-19 on field goals in his one season with the Mason at Notre Dame. He became an undrafted free agent of the Saints, and has been their kicker since the ’23 season.
In three NFL seasons, Grupe is 86-of-88 in his career on extra points and 57-of-75 on field goals, going 15-of-23 on field goals north of 50 yards.
The Saints cut Grupe on November 25th, after a 2025 campaign in which Grupe has missed 8 field goals (18-of-26). He is a perfect 15-of-15 on his extra point attempts.
At Tuesday’s tryout was Tucker, who has a decorated NFL resume and would have brought quite the distraction had the Colts signed him. Tucker just finished a 10-game suspension after 16 massage therapists had accused him of sexual misconduct in recent years. As a kicker, Tucker is known as one of the best in NFL history but his numbers really dipped in Baltimore last year, going just 22-of-30 on field goals (73.3%) along with missing two extra points (60-of-62).
With Grupe, it will mark the first time in the Colts history (dating back to 1953) they’ve used three placekickers to kick field goals over the course of a season.
Stay tuned to 1075TheFan.com for more on the Colts and their kicking situation
