Indianapolis Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri labored through a disastrous year in 2019 and ultimately underwent season-ending knee surgery in December.
With Vinatieri now 47 years old and clearly on the downside of his career, his status for 2020 is up in the air, and the Colts are not sure if he has played his last game in Indianapolis:
“I don’t know,” said Colts owner Jim Irsay, according to Jim Ayello of The Indianapolis Star. “I know he’s rehabbing that knee and it’s something that Chris [Ballard] and Frank [Reich] will talk about and give their opinions to me. As an as owner I occasionally step in, but I like to give my people room to make mistakes. Often times that’s how you learn. The best way to learn. It hurts, but you learn that way. But Adam knows how much I think of him. He’s unbelievable. … We’ll see. He’s in rehab mode now, and we’re in the middle of trying to put the team together.”
In 12 games this past season with the Colts, Vinatieri made just 17 of his 25 field-goal attempts and missed six extra points in what was, by far, the worst year of his NFL career.
Vinatieri initially joined Indianapolis as a free agent back in 2006 and has been with the team ever since. Up until this past year, he was consistently one of the best kickers in football.
The South Dakota State product is, of course, most known for his 10-year run with the New England Patriots in the earlier part of his career, when he made countless clutch kicks in helping the Patriots win three Super Bowl championships.
Clearly, that version of Vinatieri is long gone, and the Colts have an interesting decision to make when it comes to whether or not he'll return to the team next season.
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