The Indianapolis Colts made the surprise move recently to release veteran kicker Matt Gay.
As GM Chris Ballard described on Monday during his pre-draft press conference, that decision was less about Gay and more so about their faith in Spencer Shrader.
“Matt is a good kicker, he’s still a good kicker,” Ballard said via the team site. “Matt is still going to be a good kicker in this league. I think a lot of it had to do with Spencer. Having Spencer last year gave us a real insight to his talent level.”
Shrader spent a good amount of time with the Colts last season after signing with them as an undrafted rookie out of Notre Dame. He was with Indianapolis throughout training camp and the preseason, and even appeared in Week 1 while Gay was sidelined.
For roughly the first half of the season, Shrader was on and off the Colts’ practice squad. Then, with the New York Jets dealing with an injury at kicker, he was signed to their active roster for a game. Then, with Kansas City dealing with an injury at kicker of their own, Shraader was signed to their active roster for two games.
When it was all said and done, Shrader would go 6-for-6 on extra points and 3-for-3 on field goals, according to PFF. However, that isn’t what stood out to Ballard the most.
“He leaves us and performs and performs at two different teams –you know how hard that is?” Ballard said. “That’s difficult now, to go to two different teams and have to perform – that is not easy. You’re working with a totally different operation at both – different snapper and different holder – and to go in and be successful. This had more to do with Spencer than it did, really, with Matt.”
Gay was entering Year 3 of what was the largest free-agent contract signed by a kicker. While he was steady from 50 yards and in during his Colts tenure, missing only three attempts, he struggled from kicks of 50-plus, going 11-for-22 on such attempts.
The Colts clearly think highly of Shrader, but he isn’t going to be handed the job either. As highlighted, Shrader is still an inexperienced kicker in the NFL and has no career attempts of 50 or more yards.
As they’ve done before, competition will be brought in at kicker. You can find some free agent and draft options here.
“We usually always bring in two kickers as it is,” Ballard added. “We’re always looking for a guy with upside, kind of like last year with Spencer (Shrader). I give our special team coaches all the credit for that. They identified Spencer last year and said, ‘Look, he’s got upside.’ We didn’t necessarily have a vision that this is how it would work out, but you never know. So, they do a great job finding guys with some upside. So, we’ll look for a guy with some leg strength and upside, and think we can work with and see how it plays out.”
This article originally appeared on Colts Wire: Chris Ballard: Why Indianapolis Colts released K Matt Gay