Getty Former Indianapolis Colts kicker Rodrigo Blankenship signed with a new team on October 18.
Rodrigo Blankenship officially has a new team. The former Indianapolis Colts kicker reportedly signed a contract on October 18 to join the Arizona Cardinals practice squad.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported the signing.
The #AZCardinals have signed former #Colts K Rodrigo Blankenship to their practice squad.
Although he’s only on the practice squad right now, Blankenship could be kicking for the Cardinals in Week 7.
Arizona’s regular kicker Matt Prater is still dealing with a hip injury, and Matt Ammendola has struggled the last two games for the Cardinals in Prater’s place. The Cardinals released Ammendola on October 17.
Cardinals Looking for Better Kicking Without Prater
Ammendola has kicked for three different teams over the last two years, including two franchises this season. He’s struggled to find a home because of his ability to produce points on field-goal tries, especially from beyond 39 yards.
On attempts of 40 yards or greater, Ammendola is 2-for-9 in his career. He also missed a 34-yard field goal for the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 3. As Colts fans probably remember, that miss helped the Colts beat the Chiefs, 20-17.
The Chiefs cut Ammendola after that game. He hasn’t fared any better since joining the Cardinals. He was wide right a game-tying field goal attempt in the final seconds of the fourth quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 5. Then Ammendola missed an extra point in the 19-9 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on October 16.
Clearly not the answer, the Cardinals have moved on from Ammendola, but Prater might still not be ready to go in Week 7. Blankenship could make his return to NFL action after the Colts released him following a mistake-filled Week 1 against the Houston Texans.
Colts Released Blankenship After Weeks of Struggles
The 25-year-old kicker had a chance to give Indianapolis a victory in overtime during Week 1. Instead, he missed a 42-yard field goal, and the game eventually ended in a tie.
Blankenship also had two kickoffs go out of bounds late in that game. Those mistakes were penalties that allowed the Texans to start drives at the 40-yard line.
That was the straw that broke the camels back. The Colts cut Blankenship, signed two kickers to the practice squad to compete for the job and eventually settled on Chase McLaughlin. Through 5 games, McLaughlin has been an upgrade.
But Blankenship’s struggles had been building in Indianapolis. After making 30 out of 33 field goals and going 41-for-43 on extra points in his first 15 NFL games of his career, he ended his Colts tenure only hitting 16 out of 23 field-goal tries (69.6%) in his last 8 games.
Still, Blankenship offers the Cardinals an upgrade over Ammendola, at least on paper. Blankenship has made 83.3% of his field goals and 94.5% of his extra-points in 22 NFL games. Ammendola sits at 69.2% on field-goal tries and 86.4% on extra points in 15 career contests.
Blankenship’s biggest weakness is his leg strength. He’s 1-for-4 in his career on kicks 50 yards or longer. But Ammendola has struggled in that area as well and hasn’t offered the same consistency as Blankenship from shorter ranges.
It will be interesting to see if the Cardinals ask Blankenship to serve as the kickoff specialist. Arizona had Ammendola in that role the past two games, but it’s not something Blankenship has been great at in his career because of the strength of his leg.
Blankenship has posted a 63.3% touchback rate on 30 kickoffs in his NFL career.