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Colts move quickly to sign a familiar face ahead of Week 6 to replace a player they recently lost to a season-ending injury

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Destin Adams | Last updated Oct 8, 2025 8:31 AM ET

The Indianapolis Colts' celebration of their Week 5 win over the Las Vegas Raiders came to a halt due to a devastating injury. During the Colts' win, they saw kicker Spencer Shrader take a hit from a Raiders defender after an extra point. The officiating crew flagged the play, but the damage was already done. It was announced early this week that Shrader suffered a torn ACL and MCL. Now the team has found their replacement, and it's a player many fans already know from his time with the team earlier in his career.

The #Colts are signing kicker Michael Badgley to the active roster, sources tell me and @MikeGarafolo.

After Spencer Shrader's season-ending knee injury, Indy moves forward with Badgley, who kicked for Indy in 2021 and is healthy after missing last season because of injury. pic.twitter.com/8GBa1fXeFB
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) October 7, 2025

Colts sign Michael Badgley after placing kicker Spencer Shrader on IR with a season-ending injury

Jan 21, 2024; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Lions place kicker Michael Badgley (17) attempts a field goal against Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the first half in a 2024 NFC divisional round game at Ford Field. Junfu Han-USA TODAY Sports

The Colts have signed kicker Michael Badgley to their active roster after working out a large group of kickers. Badgley began his career in 2018 with the Los Angeles Chargers, and the legend of "The Money Badger" was born. Badgley spent the first three years in the NFL with the Chargers and made 80% of his field goal attempts, specifically 52 of 65. After that, he bounced around the league a bit, spending time with four different teams from 2021 to 2023. Most of the 2021 season came as a member of the Colts.

Badgley played 13 games in 2021, 12 of which were with the Colts. During that season, he was signed by the Colts to replace the kicker the team began the regular season with, and he is now doing the same thing. In his first stint with the Colts, he made 18 of his 21 field goal attempts, giving him one of the best single seasons of his NFL career. He struggled from beyond 50 yards at that stage of his career, though, which led the Colts only to allow him to attempt one from beyond 50, and he missed it. Since then, he's made four of his six attempts beyond 50 yards. This represents a notable improvement, particularly given his struggles to make only three of his first 10 attempts from 2018 to 2021.

Hopefully, the year out of the NFL doesn't disrupt the progress Badgley made as a long-distance kicker. This season, through the first five weeks, the Colts asked Shrader to attempt two kicks from beyond 50 yards. One of which was his only miss on the season as he successfully made 13 of his 14 attempts and was named the AFC Special Teams Player of the Month for September. So Badgley has some big shoes to fill as he tries to replace Shrader. And it will be interesting to see how the Colts handle this adjustment to their special teams plan. Will they choose to give Badgley opportunities to prove he can be an effective long-distance kicker, or will they choose to play it more passively and not ask him to do something that, for part of his career, he struggled with?