‘He wasn’t this guy who just came in, kicked and…

When the New England Patriots let kicker Adam Vinatieri test the open market in the 2006 offseason, it took much of the league by surprise. The Colts were even more surprised when they heard the legendary kicker wanted to play in Indianapolis.

When general manager Bill Polian called head coach Tony Dungy with the information, all Dungy could say was “no way.”

“My mouth hit the floor. I could not believe it,” Dungy said. “Bill made the call and talked to his representative, and we started talking. It was the perfect storm. Right time, right situation and we knew what he was going to bring. I was totally shocked. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that could happen.”

Players, on the other hand, heard rumblings that Vinatieri joining the Colts was becoming more and more of a possibility. Similar to Dungy, they were shocked that Vinatieri could leave their bitter rivals and join them. However, once Vinatieri stepped foot in the locker room, it just made sense.

“I remember him coming in and just fitting in right away,” Colts Ring of Honor tight end Dallas Clark said. “He’s kind of a no-bullcrap type mentality that fit Coach Dungy’s motto of, ‘No excuses, no explanations.'”

En route to the Super Bowl in Vinatieri’s first season in Indianapolis, the Colts took down the Patriots in the AFC Championship. Vinatieri went 3/3 on field goals against his former team, including a 36-yarder late in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 31.

During the three seasons Dungy coached Vinatieri, the Hall of Fame head coach knew that regardless of the situation, he could trot his kicker out and there would be points on the board.

“I never thought that he wasn’t going to make it,” Dungy said. “That gives you a great sense when you’re on defense, when you’re on offense and you’re moving the ball and trying to get in position. When you know that you’ve got money in the bank, so to speak, it does impact you positively.”

When a kicker steps onto the field, players and coaches wait with bated breath for the ball to soar through the uprights. The Colts didn’t have that feeling with Vinatieri.

“That’s a lot of anxiety I don’t want to have,” Hall of Fame defensive end Dwight Freeney said. “You’re gonna have it anyway, but you have a lot less of it when Adam’s kicking it. I didn’t have that anxiety for the rest of my career as a Colt, but when I left the Colts the anxiety came back.”

Rarely will people hear of a team playing for a field goal. Although the Colts always aimed to punch the ball in the end zone, having Vinatieri waiting in the wings provided relief for the offense in close games.

“When you have a clutch kicker in your back pocket, you just need to get it within his range,” Colts Ring of Honor wide receiver Reggie Wayne said. “It never was a time where he was up and I didn’t have any confidence in him, right? So we just know we just had to get him within his range, and I mean, he was always to me Mr. Automatic.”

Throughout his career, Vinatieri racked up accolades and records. He’s a three-time First-Team AP All Pro and a three-time Pro Bowler. He is the NFL’s all-time leader in points scored with 2,673 and made 83.8% of his field goals across 24 seasons.

Dungy had a front row seat to Vinatieri not only on the field, but off it as well. It didn’t matter who was on the team.

“He talked to everybody in the locker room, and everybody was a friend of his,” Dungy said. “He wasn’t this guy who just came in, kicked and left. He was a teammate, and he was critical to us in that regard.”

Vinatieri’s leadership in the locker room was palpable. Almost immediately upon arrival, players knew he would be the go-to guy for just about anything.

“He was kind of the leader of the team,” former Colts tight end Jack Doyle said. “When things came up, he was the guy that would talk to coach (Chuck) Pagano or Frank Reich. He would go talk to those guys about what players needed or helped us with a practice schedule we wanted to flip.”

Besides playing tight end, Doyle took the field with Vinatieri on special teams to block for him. As a rookie, Doyle absorbed everything the veteran said, because he knew he’d be better from it.

“I remember him just saying little things to me in special teams meetings as a rookie of fixing a technique,” Doyle said. “You know that’s how you’re going to make the team early on. He did that with everybody.”

The most vivid memory Clark has of Vinatieri isn’t a game-winning kick or a game he went 5/5, but how the kicker traveled, which, in Clark’s opinion, translated to the field.

“Vinny was one of the first guys on the plane,” Clark said. “We all kind of have in our same seats you know and and he you know sat next to the window, and he put his headphones on, and that guy had about a stack of about 4, 5, 6 hunting magazines. He put those headphones on and he was locked in, and that’s kind of his focus, his finite focus, obviously, is exactly what made him great.”

As Vinatieri approached the last few years of his lengthy career, the Colts added two rookies to the special teams unit. Long snapper Luke Rhodes signed in 2016 and punter/holder Rigoberto Sanchez followed the year after. Stepping into a room with the greatest to ever do it at any position can be intimidating, but Vinatieri made sure both felt like they belonged there.

“I was so lucky and fortunate to have someone like that,” Sanchez said. “He took me under his wing and he showed me everything that he could have done for me, even for my position.”

Vinatieri had played with Pat McAfee for eight seasons before McAfee retired. Rhodes played his rookie season at linebacker and on the blocking unit for kicks before making the transition to long snapper in 2017, the same season Sanchez joined.

Both were well aware of Vinatieri’s storied career, and figured it’d be coming to an end sooner rather than later as he neared 45 years old in 2017.

“Rigo and I both didn’t want to let him down, knowing the prestige of his career and being at the tail end,” Rhodes said. “We wanted to help him finish strong and he worked with us a ton and gave us tons of tips and pointers. He really led us in the right direction to help him.”

Since Vinatieri retired in 2018, the Colts haven’t had the same stability at the kicker position they did for 14 years. Six kickers have come and gone, with second-year player Spencer Shrader holding the job at the moment. Rhodes and Sanchez have remained with the organization their entire careers, and each time a new kicker comes in, the veterans make sure to treat him the same way Vinatieri treated them.

“(We) try to be as vulnerable and open-minded as possible,” Sanchez said. “Anything (Shrader) needs, we’re there to help him. Me and Luke have been together for so long that we’re able to just talk about almost anything. I think that opens up the room, and we love Spencer.”

When Vinatieri was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August, Dungy and several former teammates were present. And even though he was on three Patriots teams that won the Lombardi Trophy, it was clear Vinatieri’s Colts family swarmed him with love on Aug. 8, and they’ll do the same when he becomes the 21st member of the Colts Ring of Honor on Oct. 18.

“It was amazing to me at the Hall of Fame; it was probably eight to one, maybe nine to one Colts people, fans and teammates,” Dungy said. “I’m thinking, ‘This guy won three Super Bowls in New England.’ But it was his Colts family that stood out that day, and that said a lot.”

To so many fans, he’s the greatest kicker to ever play.

To his former teammates and coaches, he was that and more.

“There’s not a higher compliment I think someone can say to you than calling you the ultimate teammate,” Doyle said. “And that’s exactly what Adam Vinatieri was.”