Report: Colts Trying out Former Bears PK Eddy Pineiro on Tuesday

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Indianapolis Colts are working out former Chicago Bears placekicker Eddy Pineiro on Tuesday:

The undrafted free agent from Florida won the Bears starting kicking job outright in 2019, converting 23 of 28 field goal attempts (82.14%)—including a perfect 2 for 2 from 50+ yards out and was 27 of 29 in extra point attempts (93.1%).

Unfortunately, Pineiro suffered a groin injury during 2020’s training camp and missed the entirety of this past season on injured reserve.

The Colts have soon-to-be second year kicker Rodrigo ‘Hot Rod’ Blankenship as the team’s incumbent, who converted 32 of 37 field goal attempts (86.5%) and 43 of 45 extra point attempts (95.6%) as a rookie.

Blankenship struggled a bit from long range and did have a few misses down the stretch—including a missed 33-yard chip shot during the team’s Wild Card round loss to the Buffalo Bills.

However, he was largely accurate up until around 50 yards or so from distance.

That being said, it’s too early to read into this too much.

The Colts may be vetting Pineiro as a potential training camp leg or veteran insurance in case of injury to Blankenship, similar to when the franchise stashed Matthew Gay on its practice squad for a short stint during last season.

If nothing else, Pineiro could push Blankenship to be better as general manager Chris Ballard has always preached competition from top-to-bottom of the Colts roster.