Adam Vinatieri To Retire From NFL
3:36pm: The NFL’s all-time scoring leader confirmed he will hang up his cleats. Vinatieri acknowledged during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show (video link) he will not attempt to play a 25th season. An official announcement should follow soon, and the longtime Patriots and Colts kicker should be expected to land in Canton at some point.
9:28am: Ideally, Adam Vinatieri would like to play through his 49th birthday in December. But, at this stage, the longtime NFL kicker doesn’t see it happening.
“I haven’t officially retired, but I’m probably on that way,” Vinatieri said in a recent interview with Morten Andersen (via the Indy Star). “Like I said, I’m continuing to do stuff to try and get there. It’s just not … there might be a time to officially do that here in the near future.”
Vinatieri’s contract with the Colts expired at the end of the 2019 season, making him an unrestricted free agent. The veteran planned on returning to the field in 2020, but quarantine life hampered the rehabilitation of his surgically-repaired knee. Meanwhile, the Colts moved on to undrafted rookie kicker Rodrigo Blankenship.
On the whole, Vinatieri’s career has been legendary. Over the course of 24 seasons, he captured four Super Bowl rings, three First Team All-Pro nods, and countless clutch kicks. His late-year injury resulted in his first missed game since Super Bowl XLIV. And, with the Colts, he had perfect attendance dating back to 2010.
With that said, Vinatieri did show some signs of slowing down in 2019. He made just 17 of his 25 field goal tries and 22 of his 28 extra points. The Colts had issues beyond the special teams unit, of course, but those misses did not help matters as they dropped out of playoff contention.
“When you get to be our age, and you’ve kicked as many balls as we have, things start to wear out a little bit,” Vinatieri said. “Unfortunately, it was a little bit more than we were hoping. We knew we had some stuff in (the knee) that needed to be fixed. But when our surgeon went in there, he said, ‘I’m not giving you the 40,000-mile overhaul; it looked like we gave you the 80,000-mile overhaul.’”
If Vinatieri returns for another NFL season, it’ll be a historic feat. Currently, quarterback/kicker George Blanda holds the league’s all-time record on that front having played at the age of 48 in the 1975 season.
Adam Vinatieri Unsure About NFL Future
Adam Vinatieri hopes to still be kicking when he celebrates his 48th birthday in December, as NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero tweets. At the same time, he says that quarantine life has hampered rehab on his surgically-repaired knee. 
Vinatieri’s contract with the Colts expired at the end of last season, making him an unrestricted free agent. Meanwhile, the Colts are exploring their options. This week, they signed undrafted rookie kicker Rodrigo Blankenship to compete with Chase McLaughlin, who took over for Vinatieri following his injury in December.
On the whole, Vinatieri’s career has been legendary. Over the course of 24 seasons, he’s captured four Super Bowl rings, three First Team All-Pro nods, and countless clutch kicks. His late-year injury resulted in his first missed game since Super Bowl XLIV. And, with the Colts, he had perfect attendance dating back to 2010.
With that said, Vinatieri did show some signs of slowing down in 2019. He made just 17 of his 25 field goal tries and 22 of his 28 extra points. The Colts had issues beyond the special teams unit, of course, but those misses did not help matters as they dropped out of playoff contention.
If Vinatieri returns for another NFL season, it’ll be a historic feat. Currently, quarterback/kicker George Blanda holds the league’s all-time record on that front having played at the age of 48 in the 1975 season.
Colts Notes: Brady, Rivers, Brissett, Vinatieri
We heard last week that Tom Brady‘s camp had expressed interest in the Colts, but that the interest wasn’t mutual as Indy opted to roll with Philip Rivers. But Indianapolis at least looked into the opportunity, as head coach Frank Reich revealed in a video news conference Tuesday, via Joel Erickson of the Indianapolis Star. “I watched all of his tape from the last two years,” Reich said. “I think he’s still playing at a super-, super-high level. We know he’s the best of all time for a reason.” Still it wasn’t enough to move him in a different direction, as Reich said “we really felt like Philip was the right guy for us.”
“For us, we got the guy we thought was the right fit,” he explained. “I don’t know if I’d say (Brady) wasn’t a fit. There’s always a fit when you have a great player, when you have maybe the best player of all time. There’s a lot of factors that go into these things.” One of those factors is of course Reich’s familiarity with Rivers, who he coached with the Chargers. Brady was likely attracted to the Colts’ coaching staff and offensive line, although things worked out alright for him with Tampa Bay. Still, the fact that the Colts explicitly chose Rivers over Brady is interesting.
Here’s more from Lucas Oil Stadium:
- Reich reiterated that he didn’t feel like Rivers had lost anything physically, and called it a “crazy unique opportunity” to link back up with his old pupil, per Mike Wells of ESPN.com. “Just being there on the inside in the three years that I was and knowing the quarterback position like I do, I was so confident physically he was the right player and he had not lost anything,” Reich said Tuesday. “I didn’t notice any physical gifts diminishing.” He continued to rave about his new signal-caller, saying “when I tell you he’s elite intellectually, he’s at the top. There are a group of guys in the football world I would put in that category, not everybody gets those gifts. He has them.” Rivers will turn 39 in December and is coming off a down year, but he was one of the best quarterbacks in the league in 2018. Not having to play 16 road games per year like he did in Los Angeles should help.
- The acquisition of Rivers is sending Jacoby Brissett to the bench, and Reich spoke about him for the first time. “Honestly, he wasn’t happy about it,” Reich said after revealing he called Brissett shortly before they announced the signing of Rivers, via Wells. “But he’s a great teammate and a great leader, and I’m sure he’ll be good. Even though Jacoby isn’t a starter, but there’s nothing saying he can’t play,” he said. “We’re wide open. (Offensive coordinator) Nick (Sirianni) and I have been talking: What does it look like if Jacoby plays five plays a game? Seven plays a game? We’re open to that.” Brissett now has a $21.4MM cap hit to be a backup, so it makes sense they’d want to utilize him somehow.
- Adam Vinatieri struggled mightily last season before being shutdown with a knee injury and having surgery. But despite now being 47, the legendary kicker is still contemplating playing another season, according to Jim Ayello of the Indianapolis Star. Reich said that he had seen Vinatieri at the facility rehabbing before COVID-19 closed it. “(We plan) to have a sitdown with Adam and see where he’s at once he’s a little further along in that process,” Reich said. Reich said Vinatieri hasn’t yet made a decision on whether or not to retire. If he decides to keep playing, it’s entirely possible he’ll have to find a new team. Reich and general manager Chris Ballard caught some flak for sticking with Vinatieri so long when he was struggling, and their replacement Chase McLaughlin played well down the stretch. Vinatieri missed eight field goals and six extra points before getting shutdown with four games to go last year. When he underwent surgery, he said he wanted to keep the hope for a 25th season alive.
Adam Vinatieri To Undergo Season-Ending Surgery
12:12pm: Mike Chappell of CBS 4 says Vinatieri’s surgery is to repair meniscus and patellar issues. Those issues have certainly contributed to Vinatieri’s struggles this year, and apparently Vinatieri believes he can return to form after he recovers. He wants to at least give himself a chance to kick for a 25th season, which is why he is undergoing the surgery now. “But I promise you one thing: I’m gonna bust my dang ass every day from Wednesday until whenever to give myself a chance to see [if I can keep playing],” Vinatieri said. “If it’s there, it’s there. If it’s not, it’s not.”
09:23am: Adam Vinatieri‘s season is over, and his career may be as well. Per Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, Vinatieri will undergo season-ending knee surgery, and the Colts will place him on IR (Twitter link).
Vinatieri missed Sunday’s loss to the Buccaneers with the knee injury, and given that the soon-to-be 47-year-old was in the midst of the worst season of his storied career, it would not be a surprise to see him hang up the cleats.
If so, it would be a disappointing end for the future Hall-of-Famer. He ends the 2019 campaign having converted just just 17-of-25 field goals and 22-of-28 extra points, and his struggles are one of the reasons why Indianapolis is all but eliminated from playoff contention.
In the long run, though, that will just be an unpleasant footnote to a tremendous resume that includes four Super Bowl rings, three First Team All-Pro nods, and a bevy of clutch kicks. Sunday’s game was also the first he had missed since Super Bowl XLIV, and he had kicked in every Colts game over the past 10 seasons.
The Colts will likely to continue to deploy Chase McLaughlin in Vinatieri’s absence, though McLaughlin did miss a field goal try in Indy’s three-point defeat to Tampa Bay.
Adam Vinatieri To Miss Week 14
The Colts will have a new kicker Sunday. They declared Adam Vinatieri out with a knee injury, clearing the way for rookie Chase McLaughlin to handle kicking duties against the Buccaneers.
Vinatieri went through an MRI earlier this week, after appearing on Indianapolis’ injury report Wednesday. McLaughlin has kicked for the Chargers and 49ers this season, and his rookie-year work prompted the Patriots and Bills to submit waiver claims in an attempt to land him. The Colts carried the higher waiver priority and will see if the young specialist can solve some of their kicking woes.
This will halt Vinatieri’s run of appearances as a Colt. The future Hall of Famer, brought over from New England in 2006, has not missed a game due to injury since Super Bowl XLIV. The Colts signed Matt Stover to replace an injured Vinatieri after a knee injury ended his 2009 season after six games. He has kicked in every Colts game over the past 10 seasons.
The soon-to-be 47-year-old specialist remains on Indianapolis’ active roster, despite this being his worst season as a pro. Vinatieri has missed eight field goals and six extra points, almost certainly affecting the Colts’ playoff pursuit. Filling in for Michael Badgley and then Robbie Gould, McLaughlin has made 7 of 8 field goals and is 15-for-15 on PATs.
AFC Notes: Colts, Pats, Bills, Adams, Green
Adam Vinatieri landed on the Colts‘ injury report Wednesday, and NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero notes the 24th-year kicker went through an MRI after practice (Twitter link). Despite the scrutiny that’s come due to his poor performance, Vinatieri has kicked in every Colts game this season. But doubt exists about his Sunday status, leading Indianapolis to claim ex-Charger and 49er Chase McLaughlin. Vinatieri is planning to meet with Colts brass Thursday about the next course of action, per Pelissero. Considering his performance and teams not traditionally big on carrying two kickers, it seems IR could be a possibility for the NFL’s all-time scoring kingpin.
Midway through the Week 14 lead-up, let’s take a look at the latest coming out of the AFC. Additional kicker uncertainty exists within this conference.
- Both the Bills and Patriots attempted to claim McLaughlin, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. New England is without a kicker presently and has used four this season. Kai Forbath replaced Nick Folk, with the latter undergoing an emergency appendectomy, but the Pats cut the former this week. Folk would seem the likely option, but the Pats were prepared to make McLaughlin their fifth 2019 kicker. The Bills made McLaughlin a priority UDFA signing in May but waived him after the preseason. Stephen Hauschka has missed four field goals over the past six Bills games.
- T.Y. Hilton acknowledged the possibility he will not play again this season. The Colts‘ top skill-position talent re-injured his calf last week and missed Week 13. He did not practice Wednesday. “I’m doing everything I can to get back out there,” Hilton said, via Kevin Bowen of 107.5 The Fan. “If I can, I can. If I can’t, then I’m going to have to shut it down, but I’m doing everything I can (to return).” Hilton has missed five games this season; the Colts are 1-4 in those contests.
- Jamal Adams will likely miss the Jets‘ Week 14 game, per Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News. The Pro Bowl safety suffered a sprained ankle in Gang Green’s loss in Cincinnati. Adams has not missed a game as a pro.
- The A.J. Green refrain continues. Zac Taylor said Wednesday he does not expect the Pro Bowl wideout will not return for Week 14. The Bengals have played the entire season without Green, a 2020 free agent-to-be. Given a recent positive progress report, the 31-year-old receiver remains out. A full redshirt season may spook some potential suitors in free agency, but Green returning to a 1-11 Bengals team and suffering another setback would probably affect his market more.
Colts To Stick With Adam Vinatieri?
The Colts are looking at kickers, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to make a change. The plan is to stick with Adam Vinatieri, coach Frank Reich says (Twitter link via Stephen Holder of The Athletic).
“Adam is our kicker. Chris and I have talked about the situation. Obviously there have been other kickers in here,” Reich said. “When you take a look, we believe Adam is the answer.”
Vinatieri, 46, has missed six extra points and five field goals this season. His woes have cost them games, including Sunday’s loss to the Dolphins.
Still, Vinatieri is a future Hall of Famer with a resume full of Super Bowl rings and clutch kicks. The Colts, clearly, are keeping some options in the back pocket but Vinatieri’s job is safe – for now.
Vinatieri will look to get back on the right track on Sunday when the Colts take on the Jaguars on Sunday afternoon. Then, it’s a short week for the Colts as they face the Texans in Houston on Thursday night.
Colts To Work Out Kickers
After another difficult outing from future Hall-of-Famer Adam Vinatieri on Sunday, the Colts are working out free agent kickers today, as Dan Graziano of ESPN.com reports (on Twitter). Graziano says the team has not made any decision with respect to Vinatieri, but Indianapolis wants to see what’s available in case it elects to move on from the 46-year-old.
It sounds as if the Colts will consider cutting Vinatieri if they are sufficiently impressed by one of the kickers they’re bringing in for a tryout. If that happens, it would be an unceremonious end to a brilliant career, but Indianapolis cannot afford to keep Vinatieri around because of what he’s accomplished in the past. In 2019, the four-time Super Bowl champ has directly contributed to several of the Colts’ four losses — including Sunday’s home loss to the previously 1-7 Dolphins — and he has missed a whopping six extra points and five field goals.
After the second game of the 2019 season, a game in which he missed two PATS in a narrow win over the Titans, Vinatieri sounded like a man contemplating retirement. He ultimately elected to continue playing, and the Colts have stood by him, but after the defeat to Miami, it was easy to see that head coach Frank Reich‘s patience was wearing thin. Now, it’s unclear whether Vinatieri has already attempted the last kick of his 24-year NFL tenure.
We will pass along the names of the kickers the Colts are trying out when they become available.
Extra Points: Vinatieri, Callaway, Barkley
Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri has struggled mightily this season, and those struggles continued on Sunday. Vinatieri missed a crucial extra point, and the team ended up losing to the Dolphins by four points. Indy ended the game on Miami’s 16-yard line, and would’ve been able to attempt a game-tying field goal if not for Vinatieri’s miss. The organization has stuck by him throughout, but there were signs after the game that their patience might be wearing thin. “We’d been committed to him, but like everybody. … we’re going to always evaluate. Everyone gets measured, everyone’s held accountable. From top to bottom, that’s always the case. Nothing meant to read into that, that’s just the reality,” head coach Frank Reich said, per Joel A. Erickson of The Athletic (Twitter link).
On extra points, Reich said “there is an expectation there. Whatever percent it is to make an extra point, 97 percent, or 96.whatever it is to make that, we need to make those,” Erickson noted in a separate tweet. Vinatieri has now missed six extra points and five field goals on the year. It’s certainly not for sure, but the Colts appear to be inching closer to a divorce with the legendary 46-year-old kicker.
Here’s more from around the league:
- Browns receiver Antonio Callaway was a healthy scratch during Cleveland’s win over the Bills, and it appears there could be something interesting here. Callaway warmed up in uniform as if he was about to play, but then wound up inactive. When asked about it after the game Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens said it “was between him and Callaway and repeated the response when asked if it was a disciplinary matter,” according to Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com. Alper notes that Baker Mayfield said Callaway was in the game plan during the week, but that “things happen.” Since it’s the Browns, it will probably turn out to be something of note.
- The Giants suffered a tough loss to the Jets on Sunday, and things might get even worse. Star running back Saquon Barkley was spotted getting X-Rays after the game, according to Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post. Head coach Pat Shurmur conceded Barkley got “banged around pretty good,” but neither the coach nor player was willing to talk about what was wrong. Barkley, of course, just recently returned after missing time with an ankle injury.
- In case you missed it, some in the Browns organization wanted to hire Kevin Stefanski instead of Freddie Kitchens.
Latest On Colts, Adam Vinatieri
Adam Vinatieri is in the midst of his worst NFL season, but the Colts aren’t planning on making a change. After the kicker shanked a potential game-winner during yesterday’s loss to the Steelers, coach Frank Reich told reporters that the Colts would be sticking with the 46-year-old.
“A lot of confidence, no plans to do anything different,” Reich said (via ESPN’s Mike Wells).
Reich even offered an explanation for the 43-yard kick that ended up sailing far left, noting that Vinatieri had to kick the ball with the laces facing him. While part of the blame could be placed on holder Rigoberto Sanchez, the veteran kicker noted that it was his job to convert the field goal attempt.
“I just missed it,” Vinatieri said. “I got to do better than that, just pulled it left.”
The future Hall-of-Famer has converted a career-low 70.6-percent of his field goal attempts (12-for-17) and 73.7-percent of his extra point attempts (14-for-19). There was some thought that Vinatieri could hang up his cleats following his early-season struggles, and the Colts ended up auditioning a number of free agent kickers. Considering we’re now in early November, there’s little chance the organization would look to make a change now.
While the Colts are struggling on special teams, the defense also took a hit today. Joel A. Erickson of the Indy Star tweets that rookie wideout Parris Campbell broke his hand. The second-rounder underwent a procedure, and the team won’t place him on the injured reserve right now.