Spencer Shrader

Career StatsC+

Year	Team	GP	FG%
Career		2	94.7%
2025		5	92.9%
2024		4	100.0%

Current Contract

Contract Value Index (CVI)

Spencer Shrader's two-year, $2.5M deal with Indianapolis represents a legitimate steal at the kicker position, earning a strong A- CVI that reflects exceptional value for a specialists market that's grown increasingly expensive. At just $1.3M per year, the Colts are paying rotational player money for what should be above-average production from a kicker who's shown reliable accuracy and range in his early career opportunities. The contract structure heavily favors Indianapolis with only $800K guaranteed, giving them maximum flexibility to move on if Shrader struggles while locking in a cost-controlled asset if he develops into their long-term answer. For a franchise that's cycled through multiple kickers in recent seasons, this represents smart roster building — securing a young leg with upside at a fraction of what proven veterans command in free agency. The Colts essentially found their potential decade-long solution at a position of need while paying backup money, making this one of the more underrated signings of the offseason.

Contracts in the Same Value Band

Other same-position deals the Contract Value Index also places in the A band — a quick read on where Spencer's contract sits relative to comparable money.

Performance Analysis

Spencer Shrader's performance grade lands at C+, capturing how he stacks up at PK this season. That middling mark reflects a second-year player who appeared in only five games during the 2025 season before a season-ending knee injury derailed his development arc—a limited sample that offered neither the consistency nor the volume needed to establish himself as a reliable kicker at the NFL level. The handful of opportunities he did get showcased his composure under pressure, most notably a game-winning field goal that demonstrated clutch execution when the moment mattered, but those isolated bright spots were not enough to overcome the broader narrative of unreliability and medical fragility that now defines his standing with the organization. With the regular season still four months away, Shrader enters the 2026 offseason in genuine jeopardy: the Colts have publicly opened a kicker competition with Blake Grupe, a signal that Indianapolis is not treating his roster spot as secure, and the team's recent offensive line and defensive signings suggest the front office is focused elsewhere. As a second-year player recovering from a significant injury and facing direct competition, Shrader's path forward hinges entirely on demonstrating full health and consistency during training camp—a prove-it threshold that reflects how decisively the media narrative has moved past him and how much ground he must reclaim to secure his place in Indianapolis's plans.

How Spencer Compares at the Position

Spencer Shrader ranks 10th of 39 graded pks by performance. That slots Spencer between Chris Boswell (B-) just ahead and Wil Lutz (C+) just behind.

Current Sentiment

Fan reaction and beat coverage cluster around a D- sentiment grade for Spencer Shrader. The narrative driving this collapse is unambiguous: a season-ending knee injury that sidelined him for the entirety of the 2025 campaign has created genuine medical uncertainty, but what's truly damaging is how decisively the media has framed the Colts' organizational response—coverage openly signals that Indianapolis views this as an opportunity to move on rather than a medical patience situation, with reports of a competitive kicker battle with Blake Grupe serving as the clearest possible front-office signal that Shrader's roster spot is not secure despite being in year two. His C+ performance grade compounds the problem: across five games in 2025, he never fully established himself as a reliable positional solution, leaving little margin for organizational loyalty once injury entered the equation. The recent team signings across linebacker, guard, center, and cornerback underscore a front office in constructive-mode, yet notably absent from that activity is any public recommitment to Shrader's timeline or role—instead, the narrative has already moved past him, with one headline capturing the prevailing sentiment as "the only way forward." The sliver of positive coverage exists: his resilience narrative and a game-winning field goal moment generated some warmth, and reports that he is "kicking again" provide a recovery pathway. But with the regular season more than four months away and the sentiment grade sitting firmly in free-fall territory, Shrader enters the 2026 preseason as one of the NFL's most precarious roster situations—he has time to reverse the narrative, but doing so will require a level of dominant, injury-free performance in training camp that convinces a front office that has already begun looking elsewhere.