The Colts sign former Chargers kicker Michael Badgley.
In wake of starting kicker Rodrigo Blankenship’s hip injury, the Colts are signing former Los Angeles Chargers kicker Michael Badgley to their practice squad, according to Ian Rapoport.
The #Colts are signing kicker Michael Badgley after today’s workout, sources tell me and @TomPelissero. So if Hot Rod can’t go, it’ll be Badgley getting promoted from the practice squad to kick on Sunday against the #Texans.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 13, 2021
Reports came out Wednesday morning from Rapoport that Badgley was one of a few different kickers which the Colts planned on trying out. If Rodrigo Blankenship is unable to play Sunday, it’ll be Badgley who gets the start against the Houston Texans, Rapoport also reported.
The Colts saw Blankenship miss an extra point and two field goals, one of which would’ve likely iced the game against the Baltimore Ravens Monday night. After the game, head coach Frank Reich said that Blankenship had been dealing with a hip injury.
Blankenship later noted that the injury “flared up on him,” and further described his injury as causing a “stabbing pain” every time he would go to try and kick. Indianapolis made the correct move in going and signing Badgley, especially given the type of pain Blankenship described himself to be in.
Even though it’s clearly no fault of Blankenship’s that he is injured, the Colts, now at 1-4 on the season with little margin for error, simply cannot afford to have a similar kicking catastrophe take place again.
It should also be noted that Badgley is a former undrafted free agent that the Colts signed back in 2018, so bringing in a familiar face does make sense as a temporary replacement for Blankenship.
Badgley’s best season by far was with the Los Angeles Chargers in 2018, when he went 15-of-16 (93.8%) on field goal attempts for that season. Since then, though, Badgley has struggled a little, hitting on only 81.3% and 72.7% of his kicks during the 2019 and 2020 season respectively.
While there still isn’t an official timetable for Blankenship’s return, the Colts are hoping Badgley can provide a little more stability at the kicking position until in the meantime.