Colts sign Rams' Matt Gay to biggest free agent deal ever for a kicker

INDIANAPOLIS — The Colts have made their first big outside signing of free agency.

And although the signing comes as a surprise, given the emergence of Chase McLaughlin last season and the team’s lack of outside signings at other positions of need so far, the move solidifies a position that hasn’t been settled since Adam Vinatieri was at full strength.

Seventeen years after prying Vinatieri away from the Patriots, Indianapolis has agreed to sign Rams kicker Matt Gay to a four-year deal worth up to $22.5 million, according to Gay’s agent, David Canter.

Gay, whose average per year salary checks in at $5.625 million, will be paid more on an annual basis than any kicker in the NFL other than Baltimore’s Justin Tucker, a five-time All-Pro who checks in at $6 million per year.

Colts Insider: Should the Colts pursue QB Lamar Jackson? A look at the pros, cons and likelihood

But the Colts have also paid dearly for failing to find a suitable replacement for Vinatieri since age finally caught up to the future Hall of Famer in 2019.

A rock who’d made the kicking position an afterthought in Indianapolis for more than a decade, Vinatieri opened the 2019 season by missing two field goals and an extra point in a 30-24 loss to the Chargers, missed two extra points the next week against the Falcons, missed a potential game-winning field goal against the Steelers and finally missed three field goals in a December loss to Tennessee before going on injured reserve.

Colts general manager Chris Ballard and then-head coach Frank Reich stuck with Vinatieri too long that season, banking on the legend’s experience to bring him out of the funk, but he made just 68% of his field goals and missed six extra points in 28 attempts, playing a key role in a season that came up short of the playoffs.

Indianapolis tried to replace Vinatieri the next season by going with Rodrigo Blankenship, who turned in a solid rookie season, only to miss a critical 33-yard field goal in the Colts’ playoff loss to Buffalo, then suffer an injury warming up against Baltimore and miss a potential game-winning field goal, costing Indianapolis a game it later ended up needing to make the playoffs. Brought back in 2021 despite an inability to make kicks from more than 50 yards, Blankenship missed another potential game-winning field goal in overtime in Houston, leading to his release.

NFL free agency 2023:Colts bring E.J. Speed back on 2-year deal, shoring up linebacker after loss of Bobby Okereke

Blankenship’s replacement, Chase McLaughlin — the kicker who’d initially taken over for Vinatieri in 2019, then lost the job to Blankenship in training camp in 2020 — stepped into the role and delivered a solid season, making 83.3% of his field goals, all 21 of his extra points and burying 9 of 12 field goals from more than 50 yards, the most of any kicker in a single season in franchise history.

McLaughlin’s steady leg provided one of the few bright spots in an abysmal season for Indianapolis. With that performance in mind, McLaughlin was expected by many to get another chance to win the Colts’ kicking job permanently.

Gay’s availability changed the equation

For all he’s done in two stints in Indianapolis, McLaughlin has been inconsistent overall in a journeyman career that has already seen him kick for six teams in four seasons in the NFL, compiling an inadequate career percentage of 78.8% on field goals, albeit 17 of 20 from 50 yards or more.

Gay offers much more consistency.

Drafted in the fifth round by Tampa Bay in 2019 after winning the Lou Groza Award at Utah, Gay initially struggled in the NFL, putting together an uneven rookie season with the Buccaneers, then getting cut at the end of training camp in 2020.

Indianapolis had a chance to land Gay then.

Ten days after the Buccaneers released Gay, the Colts signed the young kicker to the practice squad and kept him there as insurance for Blankenship until mid-November, when the Rams plucked Gay off the practice squad to replace injured kicker Kai Forbath.

Gay’s been one of the most consistent kickers in the NFL since then.

Gay made 74 of 80 field goals, or 92.5% of his attempts, in two and a half seasons in Los Angeles, buried all but two of his 97 extra points and made 12 of 15 kicks from 50 yards or more, earning himself a Pro Bowl nod and a Super Bowl ring with the Rams in 2021.

If Gay can continue to be that consistent, the 28-year-old could provide Indianapolis the same kind of long-term stability at kicker that the Colts once enjoyed with Vinatieri, hopefully avoiding the pitfalls the team has gone through at the position the past four seasons.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts sign Rams' Matt Gay to biggest FA deal ever signed by kicker