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Chase McLaughlin, Rodrigo Blankenship Bring Contrasting Styles to Colts Kicking Competition

Second-year Chase McLaughlin and undrafted rookie Rodrigo Blankenship are vying for the Indianapolis Colts kicking job in a tightly-contested battle. Coach Frank Reich sees two specialists with different, effective styles.

INDIANAPOLIS — Chase McLaughlin and Rodrigo Blankenship are familiar with needing to prove themselves as kickers.

They’ve taken similar paths to converge at Indianapolis Colts training camp, where McLaughlin is the incumbent and Blankenship the undrafted rookie in a competitive kicking competition. As an undrafted rookie last season, McLaughlin was with five NFL teams and kicked the last four games for the Colts after Adam Vinatieri was placed on injured reserve.

That’s about where the similarities end. As Colts head coach Frank Reich has observed during training camp, the kickers have different styles.

“Chase is a pretty cool customer,” Reich said in a Wednesday Zoom video call. “I’ve been around both styles of kickers. I think Chase is a little bit more – I don’t know what the right word for it is – not as regimented about certain things. More of a, ‘Hey just put it anywhere. I’m good. I can make it.’ Kicked with a guy, Steve Christie, who was a real good kicker in Buffalo. I held for him. He was kind of like that.

“Then, on the other hand, I think ‘Rod’ is very regimented, disciplined about his approach – very technical in every little thing. That’s good, too. They’re both unique styles. I think they’re different. I’ve been around guys like that as well. They’ve both done well in the kicking competition and plenty of more of that to come here in the next couple weeks.”

Incumbent Chase McLaughlin (left) and rookie Rodrigo Blankenship are vying for the Indianapolis Colts kicking job in training camp.

Kickers Chase McLaughlin (left) and Rodrigo Blankenship were both college walk-ons who earned scholarships and then were undrafted entering the NFL.

McLaughlin, 24, of Cypress, Texas, was signed by Buffalo as a rookie but waived in final cuts. He then had a short stint on Minnesota’s practice squad. He finally got his chance to kick for the L.A. Chargers, then San Francisco before joining the Colts. He made 18-of-23 field goals and all 26 extra points, including five-of-six field goals and 11 extra points for the Colts, who re-signed him for the 2020 season.

“I feel good about it,” McLaughlin said. “I mean, it’s been a good competition so far. (Blankenship) is a good guy and we’ve had a great snapper and holder obviously coming back from last year. Yeah, (I’m) confident moving forward. Just kind of focusing on what I can control and making kicks for the team.”

Blankenship, 23, of Marietta, Ga., made 27-of-33 FGs as a senior at Georgia, and received the Lou Groza Award, bestowed upon college football’s top kicker. In his college career, he made 80-of-97 FGs and all 200 PATs. The Colts gave him a $20,000 signing bonus to join this kicking competition.

“I just felt like this was going to be the best situation, the best spot for me,” Blankenship said. “I know that the Colts have had a reputation for having a lot of success with specialists, especially the kicker position, thinking recently about Vinatieri being arguably the best of all-time. I think there has definitely been a precedent established for having quality specialists here in Indy. You obviously have to walk in and come right into kind of the heat of battle, walk into a competition, but that’s how it was going to be anywhere that I decided to go.”

Because there aren’t any NFL preseason games, the Colts added pressure to the competitions by dividing the roster and attaching a side to each specialist. The losing kicker on any given day earns the attached teammates extra sprints.

They’ve been resilient to reach this point. Now McLaughlin and Blankenship are counting on their ability to persevere in this battle.

“Yeah, it’s kind of just been my life through college, too,” McLaughlin said of Illinois. “I went in as a walk-on, had to compete my first two years, and then won it my third year. Then coming into the league I was with five different teams, so kind of competing, getting jobs and then – yeah, it’s kind of been what I’ve been used to. It’s a situation I’m comfortable with and know I can focus on the things that I can control and let the rest play out.”

Blankenship compliments McLaughlin in recapping his journey.

“This situation kind of feels a lot like the situation that I was in going into our 2017 season back at UGA,” he said. “It almost feels exactly like that. I’m not new to having to prove myself and kind of having to do the dirty work and just grind to earn everything. I think that could be said for a lot of guys that are here. A lot of guys here on this team and a lot of guys across the league have had to earn their keep and just grind their whole lives to get to this point.

“Like you said, Chase had been with a few teams last year. He bounced around a little bit, but he persevered and he stuck with it. I respect that about him. I respect him as a competitor and he’s done some great things with the Colts at the end of last season. He’s an NFL talent, NFL quality kicker, and that’s why he’s here. I respect him as a competitor and I respect everything that he’s had to go through to reach this point. On the flip side of that, I’ve had to do a lot of grinding and persevering myself. Going to UGA as a walk-on, not earning a scholarship until the beginning of my third season – my redshirt sophomore year – and then going undrafted. Coming into the NFL kind of feels like that walk-on situation all over again, if you know what I mean.”

(Phillip B. Wilson has covered the Indianapolis Colts for more than two decades and authored the 2013 book 100 Things Colts Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. He’s on Twitter @pwilson24, on Facebook at @allcoltswithphilb and @100thingscoltsfans, and his email is phillipbwilson24@yahoo.com.)