Colts sign K Blake Grupe to replace Michael Badgley, what it means

INDIANAPOLIS — The Colts are signing former Saints kicker Blake Grupe to the practice squad to replace veteran kicker Michael Badgley, a league source confirms.

Grupe emerged from a tryout that included former Indianapolis rookie Maddux Trujillo and former Ravens star Justin Tucker, who served a 10-game suspension to start the season for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy after 16 massage therapists in the Baltimore area accused Tucker of sexual misconduct in a Baltimore Banner story.

The Saints released Grupe last week in the middle of his third season with New Orleans, but the 27-year-old kicker is a veteran of three NFL seasons who already has familiarity with Indianapolis special teams coordinator Brian Mason, who coached Grupe at Notre Dame in his final collegiate season.

Grupe made just 18 of 26 field goals for New Orleans this season, but he’d made all 15 extra points, the kick that led to Badgley’s release. Brought in to provide stability inside the 50-yard line, Badgley instead missed three extra points in seven games.

The Colts knew that any kicker they could sign at this point would come with risks.

“Any point in time you're talking about evaluating kickers in Week 14 of the season, it's certainly going to be complicated,” Mason said on Tuesday. “That’s just the situation we're in. We’ve got to put ourselves in the best position to be successful, to find the person that we think is going to be able to convert scoring opportunities.”

Mason likely believes his familiarity with Grupe will help the Colts fix the issues that led to the misses in New Orleans.

Grupe made 58 of 68 field goals in his first two seasons with the Saints, an 85.3% rate that is respectable if not at the top of the NFL.

“Most kickers, as we're looking at them in Week 14, are obviously on the street for a reason,” Mason said. “For evaluating new kickers, what is the reason maybe they did not have the success, or the reason that maybe they are on the street? Is that something that we can plug and play in our situation, and they'll be set up for more success?”

One key element for Grupe is likely that he has the leg strength Badgley lacked.

Badgley did make two kicks of 50 yards or more in Pittsburgh, but he also left a 53-yard attempt short in Berlin, and those two Steelers kicks were only the sixth and seven kicks he’d made beyond 50 yards in a career that started with the Chargers in 2018.

Grupe, on the other hand, is 15 of 23 from 50 yards or more, carrying a career long of 57 yards.

He also has missed only two extra point attempts in 88 career tries in the NFL.

“We're looking for somebody that's experienced, that we know can handle pressure, that we know can be consistent,” Mason said. “Who can make PATs and be reliable to make kicks within 50? Who we can trust to be able to do that for the next five weeks and then into the playoffs, to be able to make kicks outdoors that we know can handle that pressure.”

The move clearly comes with risk.

Grupe has been an inconsistent kicker from a variety of distances all season, missing two field goals inside the 40-yard line, three between 40 and 49 and three from beyond 50.

But the Colts are clearly hoping his familiarity with Mason will help Grupe find his form, carrying Indianapolis through the rest of the season.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Blake Grupe signed by Colts to replace kicker Michael Badgley