Who Should I Start? Matt Gay or Spencer Shrader

Tuesday, April 29, 1:08 PM

Veteran free-agent kicker Matt Gay signed a one-year deal worth over $4.25 million fully guaranteed with the Washington Commanders on Tuesday, according to his agents. It's the most fully guaranteed money for a kicker on a one-year deal in NFL history. Gay can earn up to $5 million with reachable incentives in 2025 in D.C. In a corresponding move, the Commanders are releasing kicker Zane Gonzalez. In a Commanders offense that ranked fifth in the NFL in points per game (28.5), Gay should immediately be in play as a lower-end fantasy kicking option for the 2025 season. The 31-year-old booter went 31-for-37 (83.8%) on his field-goal tries in 16 games with the Indianapolis Colts last year, but he made just three of nine attempts from 50-plus yards out. He was a perfect 33-for-33 on extra points and has made 85.5% of his 193 career field-goal attempts in six years in the NFL.

Tuesday, May 6, 3:51 PM

According to James Boyd of The Athletic, Spencer Shrader is the favorite to win the team's starting placekicking duties for 2025. Last season, Shrader kicked for the Colts in Week 1 due to an injury to Matt Gay. The Colts released Gay this offseason and brought Shrader back. He will compete with undrafted free-agent kicker Maddux Trujillo out of Temple, but it is "his job to lose." Shrader went undrafted last offseason out of Notre Dame and kicked in one game for the Colts, one game for the New York Jets, and two games for the Kansas City Chiefs. Overall, he made all five of his field goal attempts and was a perfect nine-for-nine on extra point tries. Gay attempted the seventh-most field goals last season for Indy, so Shrader could find his way on the fantasy football radar in 2025.