Indianapolis Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri is undoubtedly one of the most decorated kickers in NFL history.
In 22 seasons, he has won four Super Bowls (most all-time by a kicker) and suited up for 30 playoff games. Vinatieri is the second all-time scoring leader in NFL history with 2,487 points, behind only Morten Andersen's 2,544.
At age 45, don't expect the veteran to walk off the field any time soon.
"I love it as much today as I had when I started 23 years ago," Vinatieri told Colts.com writer Andrew Walker on Tuesday. "I'm not looking to hang them up anytime soon, unless something happens that needs to be that way."
The South Dakota State product went undrafted in 1996 after playing professionally for the World League of American Football's Amsterdam Admirals.
The New England Patriots signed Vinatieri for the 1996 season, a year in which they made it to their first Super Bowl since 1985. Despite the Super Bowl XXXI loss to the Packers, it was a setting that a young Vinatieri would grow accustomed to.
The Patriots won Super Bowl XXXVI, XXXVIII and XXXIX in February 2002, 2004 and 2005, respectively, with Vinatieri hitting game-winning kicks as time expired in 2002 and 2004.
Vinatieri signed with the Colts in 2006 and, once again, his team reached the Super Bowl in his first year. The Colts topped the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI with Vinatieri making three field goals along the way.
Last year, the Colts struggled to a 4-12 record with QB Andrew Luck missing the entire year due to injury. The kicker still finished the year 29-for-34 on field goal attempts (85.3 percent), just above his career average of 84.3 percent. Vinatieri comes into 2018 just 58 points away from passing Andresen for the scoring record, but is also looking for more team success.
"Obviously this all-time leading scorer thing I knew was out there and I thought, 'Man, if I stay healthy, I would like to reach that goal,'" Vinatieri admitted to Walker. "But for me, like I said before, more importantly if our team is a team that is a contender to continue to make playoffs and have a chance to play in another Super Bowl and stuff, that is a huge, huge driving factor for me.
"I wanted to play for a team that can win and I feel like Chris Ballard and hiring Frank [Reich], I talked to Frank a little bit as well, I think these two gentlemen can definitely turn this organization around so I'm happy and excited to sign with this team and to see where we can go with it.
