Buccaneers Sign Productive Veteran Kicker To 90-Man Roster

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers appear to have a kicker battle on their hands for training camp as they have signed veteran free agent kicker, Rodrigo Blankenship to a deal, per a release from the team.

Blankenship joined the Buccaneers during their mandatory minicamp this week in the hopes of trying to latch onto a team. Since coming to Tampa Bay, it seems as if Blankenship is finally getting close to being fully healthy after tearing a muscle in his leg. He also enjoyed some trash talk with quarterback Baker Mayfield.

Once training camp rolls around, Blankenship will be competing with the recently signed Chase McLaughlin to become the Buccaneers' starting kicker in 2023.

Blankenship, from Marietta, Georgia, spent his college days playing for the University of Georgia as a walk-on and took control as the starting kicker for the Bulldogs his redshirt freshman season. He finished his four-year career at Georgia with 440 kicking points by going 80-of-97 (82.5%) on field goals and converting all 200 of his extra-point attempts.

As a senior in 2019, he was named first-team All-SEC and won the Lou Groza Award for the nation’s top placekicker after converting on 27-of-33 (81.8%) field goals and going 46-for-46 (100%) on extra points. He owns the longest field goal in Rose Bowl history after converting a 55-yard attempt in 2018.

Blankenship was highly touted out of college, but ended up going undrafted in the 2020 NFL draft. The Indianapolis Colts quickly latched onto him and he was able to put up solid rookie season, converting on 32/37 field goal attempts and 43/45 extra-point attempts. "Hot Rod"'s rookie season was good enough to earn him a spot on the PFWA All-Rookie Team.

Following his rookie season, Blankenship only played in five games due to a hip injury and then was released by the Colts in 2022 after a blunder of mishaps. The Arizona Cardinals picked Blankenship, but he only appeared in two games for the franchise.

Blankenship will now get another shot at being an NFL starting kicker, but the competition is expected to be fierce with late-bloomer McLaughlin also in the mix.

Stick with BucsGameday and the Locked On Bucs podcast for more coverage of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers throughout the offseason.

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