In a move that feels anti-climatic for Colts fans, Chris Ballard and the Indianapolis Colts front office are bringing back kicker Blake Grupe on a 1 year $1.4 million deal.
Grupe was very good for the Colts in his five games last season, going 11 for 11 on field goals
and 10 out of 10 on PAT’s. Grupe’s five game stretch with Indy may have been the best stretch of his career as he posted a 79.8% field goal percentage during three and a half seasons with the New Orleans Saints. Perhaps most surprisingly Grupe went four for four on kicks of more than 50 yards including a career long, 60 yarder.
While this isn’t the resigning Colts fans all seem to be hoping for it is solid insurance for next season as Spencer Shrader attempts to come back from a torn ACL and MCL. Colts fans would be wise to view Grupe’s five games a season ago, skeptically, given the entirety of his career but those five games were absolutely enough to earn a modest pay day for someone who was solid in blue and white. Especially at such a critical position.
Stay tuned for more roster moves over the next 48 hours as this re-signing puts the Colts back over the salary cap threshold as they continue their push to both bring back star wide receiver Alec Pierce and get under the cap heading into unrestricted free agency. The only thing I’m confident of at this stage of the offseason is that, kicker notwithstanding, this Colts roster will look much different come September than it does right now.
