While the Indianapolis Colts had many position battles that were active throughout training camp, there were many eyes on the kicking competition between Chase McLaughlin and undrafted rookie free agent Rodrigo Blankenship.
Both players had their ups and downs throughout training camp, which included two scrimmages at Lucas Oil Stadium. But it seems, for now, Blankenship will be the winner of the kicking competition after McLaughlin was waived on Saturday.
The #Colts are waiving kicker Chase McLaughlin, source said. He’d been competing in camp with rookie Rodrigo Blankenship.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) September 5, 2020
With Blankenship expected to be on the active roster, this also extends the Colts’ undrafted rookie streak to 22 seasons.
Blankenship has a strong pedigree of success from his collegiate career at Georgia. He converted all 200 of his extra-point attempts and was 80-of-97 (82.5%) on field-goal attempts.
McLaughlin was the immediate replacement for Adam Vinatieri at the end of the 2019 season when the latter went on the injured reserve list. He was solid in that final stretch, converting 5-of-6 field-goal attempts and all 11 of his extra-point attempts.
The Colts had some pretty tough kicking woes to deal with that cost them a few games in 2019 and now they will be putting their faith in the undrafted rookie from Georgia.
