The NFL’s oldest player is going to try to break the league’s career scoring record.

If Adam Vinatieri gets his way Connor Williams Color Rush Jersey , it might not be the only record to fall.

On Thursday, the 45-year-old kicker signed a one-year deal to stay with the Indianapolis Colts – a deal he insists may not be his last.

Financial details were not immediately available, though the deal is believed to be in the neighborhood of last season’s $3 million salary. Vinatieri also noted during a conference call that he will receive a $250,000 bonus if he makes 88 percent of his field goal attempts next season after missing barely missing out on a bonus for making 90 percent in 2017.

But money isn’t the reason Vinatieri returned. He is playing well, wants to win and needs 58 points to surpass Morten Andersen as the league’s top scorer.

”I know 57, 58 points away is definitely within reach this year if I stay healthy and all that,” said Vinatieri, who has scored 2,487 points. ”I really wanted to break that record wearing a Colts helmet where I’ve played the majority of the years in my career now.”

Vinatieri made his intentions clear late last year that he wanted to play a 24th pro season and his preference was to stay in Indianapolis Carlos Carrasco Cleveland Indians Jersey , where he has developed deep roots since joining the Colts as a free agent in 2006.

General manager Chris Ballard quickly let Vinatieri know the team wanted him back. The combination made Indy’s first major offseason move pretty simple.

”This process was substantially easier than it was maybe a couple years ago,” Vinatieri said. ”I know when Chris and I had conversations after the season I expressed to him how if everything was moving in the right direction and everything was going to get taken care of, how much I would like to be here and continue my career here. He expressed to me that he also wanted me to keep playing here. So the process was pretty easy.”

Vinatieri acknowledged hiring Frank Reich as the new coach also helped persuade him to come back.

Reich takes over a team that went 4-12 in 2017 and played without Andrew Luck the entire season. The quarterback is still rehabbing from surgery he had on his throwing shoulder 13 months ago.

The good news is Reich knows he can count on the best clutch kicker in league history.

Vinatieri earned his reputation by making two Super Bowl-winning kicks with the New England Patriots.

But his legacy runs much deeper. He won three Super Bowls with the Patriots, a fourth championship with the Colts after the 2006 season and nearly added a fifth despite finishing the 2009 season on injured reserve.

Patriot fans also remember Vinatieri for making two field goals in a driving snowstorm – one to force the overtime, the other to win it – in the infamous ”Tuck Rule” playoff game that helped New England win its first Super Bowl title. He rekindled those images in December when he made a long extra point to help force overtime in a blizzard at Buffalo.

Vinatieri is the last active player from NFL Europe, and he has been around long enough to remind reporters he once tackled Herschel Walker.

But the Colts are more concerned with productivity than records and so far, they’ve seen no indication Vinatieri is slowing down.

”Adam is one the best players in NFL history and we are excited to keep him in Indianapolis,” Ballard said in a statement. ”He continues to play at a high level and his experience and production are valuable assets for our team. Adam is the consummate pro and a key leader in our locker room.”

He needs nine field goals to pass Gary Anderson for second all-time and 36 to break Andersen’s career record of 565.

If he sticks around a few more years, as he suggested he might JK Scott Color Rush Jersey , Vinatieri won’t just be chasing Anderson and Andersen.

He also would be within striking distance of surpassing George Blanda as the oldest player to ever play in the NFL at 48 years, 109 days. Vinatieri would break the mark if he plays in the 2021 season opener.

”Less concerned about that one,” Vinatieri said, chuckling. ”I guess I’ll take these one year at a time and see where it ends up. I would anticipate if I can stay healthy and be productive, I can anticipate catching up to Morten midseason or thereabout, and I guess at the end of the year I’d be 46. I’m not putting anything out of reach.”

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As five years of hockey frustration ended for the New Jersey Devils, players embraced, raised their sticks to salute their long-suffering fans and just imagined what the future held.

The New Jersey Devils are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2012, knowing they have a shot at the Stanley Cup Johnny Townsend Color Rush Jersey , like 15 other teams after clinching a postseason berth with a 2-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night.

No tee times this year. No vacation. The real hockey starts next week.

”There’s certain moments in your life and certain moments in a season that you want to be able to celebrate,” Devils coach John Hynes said. ”This is one of them. It’s a significant accomplishment for us to be able to get ourselves back into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.”

What the Devils did this season was remarkable. They finished last in the Eastern Conference with 28 wins and 70 points.

Their win over the Maple Leafs was their 44th of the season and gave them 97 points with a game to go in the regular season. Patrick Maroon did most of the important work against the Leafs, setting up second-period goals by Pavel Zacha and Miles Wood to provide the margin of victory.

After that, it was just a matter of holding off the playoff-bound Maple Leafs, who pushed in the third period.

Keith Kinkaid, the mainstay in goal since the end of January, made 31 saves as the Devils won their fourth straight and extended their points streak to eight games (7-0-1). He preserved the lead with a stop in close on Auston Matthews with just over seven minutes to play

He called the final 10 minutes stressful and exciting.

”The fans were into it,” he said. ”That’s an unreal atmosphere out there. You hear how loud they were. Everyone is battling. Everyone is back-checking. Everyone is doing all the little things and we’re a really hard team to play against when we do that.”

When the final horn sounded there was a sense of accomplishment. A cheer went up when the Stanley Cup logo and the Devils’ logo were shown on the overhead scoreboard.

Center Travis Zajac skated behind defenseman and captain Andy Greene and hugged him. It’s been a long five years for the only two holdovers from the 2012 team that lost the Stanley Cup Final to the Kings.

”We’re a group that doesn’t give up,” Greene said. ”We are relentless. We play for each other. We play hard for each other.”

The Devils also earned this spot http://www.bengalsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-sam-hubbard-jersey , going 10-2-1 in its past 13 games.

William Nylander scored on a power play in the first period for Toronto to ice his second straight 20-goal season. Frederik Andersen was outstanding, making 37 saves, including saves on breakaways by Taylor Hall and Michael Grabner in the big second period.

The loss was only the fourth in 13 games (9-4) for the Maple Leafs, who will face either Boston or Tampa Bay in the first round of the playoffs.

”They are a good team,” Toronto defenseman Jake Gardiner said. ”That’s as close to playoff hockey as we are going to get right now. That was kind of us last year, fighting for a spot to get in. They played hard. They played well. They didn’t give us too much.”

New Jersey, which is currently the first wild card in the Eastern Conference, will have to wait for its playoff opponent to be decided.

While the Devils had the majority of shots for the first 27-plus minutes, they fell behind 1-0 when Nylander scored from the right circle 12 seconds after Nico Hischier was called for tripping.

Zacha didn’t tie the game until 7:55 of the second period. He won a puck along the boards in center ice http://www.raidersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-p.j.-hall-jersey , worked a give-and-go with Maroon entering the Toronto zone and beat Andersen with a shot from the left circle just under the crossbar.

Maroon, who was acquired in a trade deadline deal with Edmonton, did all the work on Wood’s 18th goal. He fended off Nazem Kadri carrying the puck from in front of his bench, all the way behind the net and then came out the other side and found Wood alone in front for a slam dunk.

NOTES: Matthews extended his point-scoring streak to eight games with an assist on Nylander’s goal. … The Devils won the season series 2-0-1. … Hall’s nine-game points scoring streak and four-game goals run were snapped. …. There were four penalties in the game.

UP NEXT

Maple Leafs: Host Montreal on Saturday night in regular-season finale.

Devils: End the regular season at Washington on Saturday night.

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