On roster cutdown day, the Colts made their choice at kicker, and Spencer Shrader came out on top. Indianapolis named Shrader the team’s kicker for the 2026 season after he battled Blake Grupe all offseason for the job.
The competition looked one-sided for much of training camp. Grupe was in control through the first half of practices, and by the numbers, it wasn’t especially close.
Then the preseason flipped the script.
Shrader went 5-for-5 on his field-goal tries, and three of those makes came from beyond 50 yards. Grupe finished 2-for-4, and that late push from Shrader proved decisive.
“It was a crazy preseason,” said Shrader, via Locked on Colts. “I think it was one of the most mentally challenging battles that I've been through.
It was really good for me. I, man, like when I think about the situation I feel bad for Blake, too, because I feel like both of us kind of earned that and it was all that I could do to keep up with him during fall camp and just try to stay even.”
Special teams coordinator Brian Mason had already said early in camp that the preseason games would matter more in the evaluation.
For Shrader, that mattered. His 2025 season ended early because of an ACL injury, and as camp went on and he got more work, he started to look more like himself again.
“He was kicking at such a high level,” Shrader said of Grupe, “and it just continually reminded me just to compete against myself every single day. And then finally kind of felt like myself towards the end and just prepared and did well in the games and then literally came down to the wire.
I had no idea what was going to happen when they made the final decision. And I really tried to emotionally prepare myself for whatever the outcome was going to be.”
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