Not to be forgotten about, but the Indianapolis Colts do have an “open” competition at kicker between Spencer Shrader and undrafted rookie Maddux Trujillo. However, that training camp battle has gotten off to a shaky start.
James Boyd of The Athletic recently listed his early risers and fallers of Colts’ training camp, and in the falling category was Shrader. According to Boyd, during Friday’s practice, Shrader was just 4-for-6 on attempts, with both misses coming from 50-plus yards.
Unfortunately, Trujillo didn’t fare any better. In fact, he was worse, going 3-for-6 on the same attempts. Trujillo would miss both kicks from over 50 yards as well, along with a 41-yarder.
After signing Shrader in free agency, the Colts made the decision this offseason to move on from veteran kicker Matt Gay. With the Colts, Gay would make 82.1% of his field goal attempts, which included going just 11-for-22 from over 50 yards.
As GM Chris Ballard described at the time of the move, what impressed the Colts about Shrader was that he played for three different teams last season, including Indianapolis, but remained steady, despite the constant change.
Appearing in four total games between his three stops, Shrader was 5-for-5 on field goals and 9-for-9 on extra points. However, of note, especially given Shrader’s performance on Friday, he has never attempted a field goal in the NFL from 50-plus yards.
Trujillo would go undrafted in April out of Temple. This past season, he made all 21 extra point attempts and he was 16-for-22 overall, which included going 5-for-5 from 40-49 yards and 5-of-8 from 50-plus, per PFF.
While each kicker’s experience has no bearing on someone else’s, if we look around the NFL, oftentimes there is a learning curve for young kickers as they make the leap from the college level. So there was some risk on Ballard’s part by going with two inexperienced players at the position.
With that said, there is obviously still plenty of time for things to turn around.
This article originally appeared on Colts Wire: Shaky start to this under-the-radar Colts’ training camp competition
Reporting by Paul Bretl, Colts Wire / Colts Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
