WESTFIELD A clear leader is emerging in the battle for the Colts kicking job even as Indianapolis is trying to give both of its experienced kickers a full and fair chance at winning the job.Blake Grupe, the kicker the Colts scooped up from the Saints late in the year, has made 27 of 30 field goals in the first two weeks of practices to take a firm lead over Spencer Shrader, who missed four kicks in Sundays practice to fall to 20 out of 30 overall.We're not judging who's the best kicker in the first two weeks, Colts special teams kicker Brian Mason said. We're judging who is the best kicker to make us through the regular season that gives us the best chance to score points and win games.Shrader is kicking at a disadvantage.Hes coming off a major injury, the kind kickers rarely have to overcome. Shrader made a name for himself as competition for former Colts kicker Matt Gay in 2024, then came back to Indianapolis in 2025 and won the job outright. Shrader got off to a great start as the teams full-time kicker last season, only to see his season ended prematurely when Raiders safety Tristin McCollum dove into Shraders right leg after a kick in October, tearing the ACL and MCL in his kicking leg.Indianapolis expected Shrader to struggle as he worked his way back.Its unreasonable to think, after not kicking for eight months and not really kicking in a full operation for 10 months, that it was going to come out here and everything was going to be perfect, Mason said. Some of that, I think, is mental, which is going to be natural, especially with kickers that he wants to be kicking at the near perfect level he was last September. It's going to take some time for him to be able to get there.But Shraders struggles through the first two weeks have been pronounced.Shrader is now 20 of 30 on field goals in live practices after a Sunday performance that included the third-year kicker missing four kicks, all from 50 yards or longer. All but one of those misses have been pulled to the left; Shrader hooked three of his misses badly Sunday, and the other miss was his first push of training camp, potentially in an effort to correct his previous miss.There (is) a little bit of an issue that we've addressed, Mason said. That's going to come down to rhythm, timing and leg swing that he's looking to clean up, and just expect to see him progress as we continue to go through things.Grupe isnt leaving much room for Shrader to work through his issues.Up until two misses in Thursday nights practice, Grupe hadnt missed a kick in a live situation in his entire time with the Colts, dating back to Indianapolis signing him late last season.He's no longer pitching a perfect game, Mason said. We can finally get over that hurdle.Grupe did leave a 61-yard kick short Thursday night, a reminder that there are differences between the two kickers. While Grupes leg is plenty strong he holds the franchise record with a 60-yard field goal against Seattle last season it does not have quite the power potential of his counterpart.He has a very good leg for his size, but it's not going to have elite leg strength, so when he's kicking from 60-plus, he's going to have to get a little bit more into that at times, Mason said. More so than what Shrader would have to do.Unfortunately, Shrader is still working his way back to the consistency that won him the job last season. When hes pulled the ball to the left, Shrader has also frequently hit the ball on a much lower trajectory than the high, arcing kicks that got the Colts attention in the first place.The competition isnt over.Indianapolis heads to New England for a joint practice and the preseason opener this week, kicking off the next phase of the competition, when Grupe and Shrader have to prove themselves in a live situation. Before this weekend, there wasnt as much separation between the two as it might seem, because there are days the Colts kick outside of the practices open to media and the fans. Grupe had made 85% of his kicks heading into the weekend; Shrader 83.Grupe has simply made more of the kicks that matter.The bigger differentiation is going to be when they go live, Shrader hasn't been kicking as consistently as Grupe when we've been going live, Mason said. But we kind of look at the big picture overall. What's their best ball look like? What are the timing, the rhythm, the mechanics on their best ball, versus is there an issue or something that we can highlight?The Colts kicking competition is about to enter the next phase.A few more chances to close the gap that has opened the first two weeks. Joel A. EricksonandNathan Browncover theColtsall season. Get more coverage onIndyStarTVand with theColts Insider newsletter.This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts' kicking battle between Blake Grupe and Spencer Shrader has a leader