COLTS ST PREVIEW: Kicker Battle Highlights Big 2026 Changes

Special teams is often the forgotten phase of football, but given how volatile the Indianapolis Colts have been on both sides of the ball in recent years, special teams is what the team has been able to hang its hat on.

Punter/holder Rigoberto Sanchez and long snapper Luke Rhodes have been in their positions with the Colts since 2017. Sanchez continues to set new career-best marks as recently as last season, and Rhodes has made two All-Pro teams.

Colts special teams coordinator Brian Mason will have to adjust to some changes in 2026, however. Starting at kicker, Spencer Shrader returns from his season-ending knee injury, and he'll attempt to win his job back from Blake Grupe, who didn't miss a kick last season in relief of Shrader.

The Colts also moved on from several players in free agency who played significant roles on special teams. Segun Olubi, Rodney Thomas II (personal protector), Buddy Johnson, Ameer Abdullah, Chris Lammons, and Tyler Goodson (gunner) averaged 204.8 snaps last season.

Here's what to expect from the Colts' special teams in 2026.

Spencer Shrader vs. Blake Grupe

Last year before his knee injury, Shrader was 13-of-14 on field goal attempts and 14-of-14 on extra points. The Colts signed Michael Badgley after Shrader went down, but he was cut after missing three extra points in seven games. Grupe was the Colts' last ditch effort and was ultimately perhaps their best kicker of the season, going 10-of-10 on extra points and 11-of-11 on fields goals, including four attempts from 50-plus yards.

Mason spoke this offseason about the determining factors in who will win the kicking competition

"Step one that everybody can understand is, who makes the most kicks," Mason said. "Certainly, those kicks are going to be weighed slightly differently. The kicks that we do on our own and we chart are going to be slighted at the bottom. Kicks we do in front of the team or in a unit setting are a little bit further ahead of that, versus kicks that we can do in a scrimmage or a joint practice and then a preseason game are going to be weighed a little bit heavier. We would like for those guys to get the same number of opportunities. Sometimes you can't perfectly script that in a scrimmage or a joint practice or a preseason game, but you want to try to put those guys in as many of the similar situations as you can to chart okay, who's the most consistent, who appears to mentally and from a routine standpoint and a poise standpoint, have the most confidence, be kicking at the highest level?

"And then not all makes and misses are created equal," Mason continued. "So, if everything is extremely consistent or they're both kicking at a high level, who's got the highest percentage of makes that are truly down the middle versus who has more misses or misses that are ugly misses, and some of those things.

"And then the last piece if everything is perfectly consistent through all of those is going to be, who has the upside with the most talented leg? But there's certainly – that will be multifaceted as we work through some of that stuff. Sometimes it's easy and one guy's kicking considerably better and more consistent than the other. I think in this situation with two talented kickers, it'll probably be a difficult one, and it'll be exciting to kind of play all the way out through training camp."

Rigoberto Sanchez

Sanchez has been as steady as they come throughout his career. In 2025, he had the fewest punts of his career (for a full season) with 44 and set a new career high for net yards per punt (44.7), which Mason has said is his biggest barometer for punting success. Sanchez also had his best percentage of punts downed inside the opponent's 20-yard line (50.0%) and his second-best yards per punt (48.8), which trails only his 2024 mark of 49.7.

Luke Rhodes

Rhodes was a Pro Bowler and First-Team All-Pro in 2021 after being named Second-Team All-Pro in 2020.

Mason spoke this offseason about the luxury of having a long snapper like Rhodes.

"It’s unbelievable. And I tell those guys – just today and yesterday, because some of the new guys don't understand- this is a guy that played linebacker in college. He played linebacker in the league to start off, was a linebacker with the Buccaneers. So, for him to have the experience of being a MIKE linebacker, being a green dot guy that is a good athlete, is really strong, he's kind of got a unique presence and leadership to him, in addition to being the longest tenured Colt on the roster.

"It's kind of invaluable to have," Mason continued. "Because, okay, hey, we're going to have another new PP this year, but we know that Luke Rhodes, if something’s screwed up, isn't going to snap the ball. He's going to look back there. He's going to get things corrected. He's going to have the poise and presence like a MIKE linebacker would as a long snapper, which you don't see very often. He’s going to be able to fix things for us. So, it's certainly really unique and a great privilege to be able to have."

Anthony Gould was the Colts' lead kickoff returner in 2025 with 25, but he split time with Abdullah (19) and Ashton Dulin (16). Goodson even had a couple. Gould, Abdullah, and Dulin all had career highs in yards per return, but Abdullah is now gone, and Dulin may not be returning kicks with his expected increase in offensive usage.

Gould, who also led the Colts with 13 punt returns, will be competing with rookie Deion Burks for the return role.

“As a returner, he had good hands and he's got unbelievable quickness, acceleration, speed," Mason said of Butks. "I think it was a unique draft where there were a – it was a really good draft for returners and there was a number of returners that had really good accel and speed. And certainly, he's got that kind of home run threat in that mix of returners that were in this draft.”

Josh Downs had eight punt returns in 2025, but that may be removed from his plate, as he also will have a bigger role this year on offense.