Adam Vinatieri’s Next Honor Puts Him in Elite Colts Company Alongside Manning and Harrison

Adam Vinatieri already has a bust in Canton. Now he’s getting a permanent spot in Lucas Oil Stadium.

The Colts announced Tuesday that the NFL’s all-time leading scorer will be the 21st inductee into the franchise’s Ring of Honor during a Week 6 game against the Titans. It’s a ceremony that’s been coming for a while, and honestly, it feels long overdue for a kicker who spent the back half of a legendary career in Indianapolis.

Vinatieri played 10 seasons with the Colts after signing as a free agent in 2006. But his resume goes way deeper than that. He played 24 total NFL seasons — which is absurd for any position, let alone kicker — and retired with 2,673 points, 599 field goals, and a bunch of records that might stand for decades. He made 44 straight field goals at one point. He scored at least 100 points in 21 different seasons. That’s almost two decades of near-perfect consistency.

The playoff legacy that separates him

Of course, what really sets Vinatieri apart is what he did when the lights were brightest. He kicked two Super Bowl-winning field goals, one with the Patriots and one with the Colts. During Indianapolis’ 2006 championship run, he set an NFL playoff record with 14 made field goals in a single postseason. That included a game where he scored every single one of the Colts’ points in a divisional-round win over Baltimore — 15 points, all on field goals. He then added three more in the Super Bowl XLI win over Chicago.

Those are the kind of numbers that make you forget he was a kicker at all. He was just a weapon.

Vinatieri earned three First-Team All-Pro nods and three Pro Bowl selections. He won 19 AFC Special Teams Player of the Week awards and five AFC Special Teams Player of the Month honors. The man basically had a standing reservation in the league office for those plaques.

He’ll join Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison, Dwight Freeney, Robert Mathis, Jeff Saturday, Reggie Wayne, Tony Dungy and the late Jim Irsay in the Colts’ Ring of Honor. That’s a room full of Hall of Famers and franchise icons. Vinatieri fits right in.

The ceremony is set for October 11 at Lucas Oil Stadium, when the Titans come to town. Bet the crowd gives him a reception that shakes the place.