Colts Announce the Waiving of PK Eddy Pineiro

The Indianapolis Colts announced the waiving of placekicker Eddy Pineiro on Tuesday, who had been seriously competing with 2nd-year kicker Rodrigo Blankenship for the team’s starting special teams’ job.

The former Chicago Bears kicker was neck-and-neck in performance with Blankenship throughout Colts training camp—as neither competitor seemingly missed in practice, and Pineiro was a perfect 4 for 4 this preseason in two games—including a long make of fifty yards (as well as was 1 for 1 in extra point attempts).

The problem for Pineiro was, ‘Hot Rod’ Blankenship, the Colts’ incumbent kicker and the clear favorite to win the job, was equally pristine during training camp practices and the preseason so far.

Specifically, Blankenship was 2 for 2 in field goal attempts during two preseason starts.

This heated competition was more about what Blankenship did right, then anything Pineiro did wrong—who did everything the Colts could’ve reasonably asked from him in pushing Blankenship to the brink as part of a healthy offseason kicking battle.

In turn, the Colts are presumably doing Pineiro a professional courtesy of sorts by cutting him early and providing him a chance to land a starting job elsewhere—given his strong performance, and during a time of year, where a few NFL starting kicking gigs still remain unsettled.