Less than a month after being released by the Indianapolis Colts, veteran kicker Matt Gay has found a new team.
Shortly after the conclusion of the 2025 NFL Draft, Gay signed with the Washington Commanders as a free agent.
According to NFL insider Tom Pelissero, Gay agreed to a fully guaranteed one-year contract worth $4.25 million, setting a new record for the highest fully guaranteed salary ever given to an NFL kicker.
The deal also includes performance-based incentives that could raise the total to $5 million.
This marks Gay’s second record-setting contract. Back in 2022, he signed a four-year, $22.5 million deal with the Colts—the largest kicker contract at the time.
However, following two inconsistent seasons, Indianapolis decided to move forward with Spencer Shrader as their new kicker for 2025.
The Commanders rotated through four kickers during the 2024 season, with Austin Seibert handling the bulk of the duties.
Seibert connected on 90% of his field goals and 22 of 24 extra points, finishing 13th in the NFL with 27 field goals made across just nine games.
Despite that performance, Washington opted to bring in Gay, leaving Seibert back on the free-agent market, where he’s spent much of his career.
Commanders hope Matt Gay will end kicker woes
Matt Gay becomes the 10th kicker to join the Washington Commanders’ roster in the past five years, highlighting the team’s long-standing instability at the position.
Since parting ways with Dustin Hopkins in 2021 after a rollercoaster seven-year tenure, Washington has cycled through a revolving door of kickers.
The Commanders have frequently dipped into the free-agent market, bringing in names like Nick Rose, Chris Blewitt, Brian Johnson, Cade York, Joey Slye, Greg Joseph, Zane Gonzalez, and most recently, Austin Seibert.
While Slye remained with the team for several seasons, his accuracy declined over time, leading the Commanders to release him after the 2023 season.
The job then passed to Gonzalez and later to Seibert, whose 2024 performance was the franchise’s most reliable kicking effort in a decade.
Despite Seibert’s success, Washington is counting on Gay to finally bring long-term stability to a position that has been anything but consistent.
