Former Georgia kicker Rodrigo Blankenship will compete for an NFL job with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
On Thursday, the Bucs signed Blankenship, who is in his fourth year in the league. He played in one game for the Colts last year and later added two with the Arizona Cardinals.
Blankenship will be reunited with former Bulldogs punter Jake Camarda with the Bucs.
Blankenship participated in Tampa Bay’s three-day minicamp on a tryout basis. He earned a chance to compete against Chase McLaughlin, who signed with the Buccaneers on March 30. Veteran kicker Ryan Succop was released in March after three seasons in Tampa.
Blankenship first entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent with Indianapolis in 2020. He connected on 32 of 37 field-goal tries, including 31 of 35 inside 50 yards, and 43 of 45 extra-point attempts. He retained his job with the Colts in 2021 but landed on injured reserve in October after making 11 of 14 field-goal attempts and seven of eight extra-point tries.
Blankenship once again won the Colts’ job to start last season. He was released after a 2-for-3 performance in the season opener, slicing a 42-yard field goal to the right in overtime, and sending two fourth-quarter kickoffs out of bounds in a 20-20 tie at Houston. In his two games for the Cardinals he made both field-goal tries and two of three extra-point attempts.
Credit: Gregory Bull
Credit: Gregory Bull
Blankenship started his college career as a walk-on but earned a scholarship.
During the 2016 season at Georgia, Blankenship emerged as the starting kicker and made several clutch field goals for the Bulldogs in big games. He made 27 of his 33 field-goal attempts as a senior and won the Lou Groza Award, which goes to the nation’s top kicker.
Blankenship scored 440 points, never missed an extra-point attempt, and made 82.5% of his field goals in four seasons at Georgia.
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