The latest on the Colts' kicking situation:
- Chase McLaughlin and Lucas Havrisik both impressed the Colts so much during a workout on Tuesday that the team signed both to the practice squad, head coach Frank Reich said. The Colts will evaluate each kicker during practice this week before deciding who will kick in Sunday's Week 2 trip to face the Jacksonville Jaguars at TIAA Bank Stadium. Both players are eligible to be elevated to the active roster from the practice squad for gameday.
- While Reich didn't 100 percent rule it out, he said the plan is not to elevate both players to the active roster (i.e., to have one handle kickoffs and the other field goals).
- The Colts have familiarity with McLaughlin, who took over for Adam Vinatieri in 2019 and competed with Rodrigo Blankenship during training camp in 2020. "Chase is an A-plus person," Reich said.
- McLaughlin and his wife made the northern suburbs of Indianapolis their home after his stint with the Colts in 2019 and 2020, and he had been training at Grand Park in Westfield prior to getting the call to work out at the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center on Tuesday. "We've been here ever since and we just love the area," McLaughlin said. "We're super excited to be here."
- McLaughlin is 37/57 (75.5 percent) on field goals in his three-year career spent with the Colts (2019), Los Angeles Chargers (2019), San Francisco 49ers (2019), Jacksonville Jaguars (2020), New York Jets (2020) and Cleveland Browns (2021). He's been particularly accurate from deep, making eight of nine kicks longer than 50 yards. He's also 67/69 (97.1 percent) on PATs, and has averaged 62.1 yards per kickoff on 90 career kickoffs.
- Havrisik participated in the Colts' rookie minicamp back in May on a tryout basis after wrapping up his college career at Arizona. He made 34 of 53 field goals (64.1 percent), including a pair of 57-yard field goals, and totaled 232 touchbacks on kickoffs for the Wildcats.
- Reich on Wednesday also thanked Blankenship for his three years with the organization. "When I talked to Rod yesterday — I think Rod will wind up having a successful NFL career," Reich said. "Sometimes in this business you just need to make a change of what you think is best for our team. It was a tough decision but one we thought we had to make."
Wednesday's practice report:
- Wide receiver Alec Pierce developed "mild" concussion symptoms after Sunday's game against the Texans, Reich said, and is in the concussion protocol.
