INDIANAPOLIS — Adam Vinatieri used his strong leg to become the NFL’s career scoring leader.

A surgically repaired left knee apparently will force him out.

The 48-year-old former Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots star told former teammate and SiriusXM radio host Pat McAfee that he plans to retire.

“By Friday, if paperwork goes in, you heard it here first,” Vinatieri said.

He hasn’t played since missing 3 of 4 field goals in a 31-17 loss to the Tennessee Titans on Dec. 1, 2019.

Vinatieri’s final kick was blocked and returned 63 yards to break a 17-17 tie. He went on injured reserve the next week and later had surgery on the knee, and his rehabilitation process was complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Vinatieri didn’t play last season.

This is not how anyone expected Automatic Adam to go out.

After he missed six extra points and eight field goals in what turned out to be the worst season of his 24-year career, the Colts opted not re-sign Vinatieri, who still wanted to play.

His decision this week ends one of the longest and most distinguished careers in NFL history.

Vinatieri scored 2,673 points and made 599 field goals, breaking both records previously held by Morten Andersen.

Vinatieri also played in 365 regular-season games, second behind Andersen (382), and is the only player in league history to top the 1,000-point mark with two franchises.

He entered the league as undrafted free agent and became known as the best clutch kicker in NFL history. Vinatieri made 29 game-winning kicks during his career, including three that won Super Bowl titles for New England.

Vinatieri started the 1996 season by missing four of his first six field-goal attempts, and then-coach Bill Parcells considered cutting him. But the rookie saved his job with a 31-yarder into the into the wind and rain with 36 seconds left in a 31-0 victory over Arizona.

Vinatieri spent 10 seasons with the Patriots, delivering one memorable moment after another.

He forced overtime in a 2001 divisional round playoff game with a 45-yard field goal in blizzard conditions.

“I would say it was by far the greatest kick I have ever seen,” Patriots Coach Bill Belichick said more than a decade later. “There were probably 3 to 4 inches of snow on the ground. It was a soft snow that kind of didn’t go away. I mean, there was no way to get around it. The magnitude of the kick was significant. It’s got to be the greatest kick of all time, certainly that I’ve seen.”

Vinatieri later won that game with a 23-yarder.

Two weeks later, his 48-yard kick as time expired gave the Patriots their first Super Bowl.

A fluke? Hardly.

Two years later, Vinatieri’s tie-breaking 46-yard field goal proved the difference in another playoff win and his 41-yard kick with 4 seconds left broke a 29-29 tie with Carolina, giving the Patriots their second Super Bowl title.

After he scored 1,158 points with New England, the Pats let Vinatieri become a free agent and he landed in Indianapolis, where he spent the next 14 seasons writing the second chapter of his career. He scored a franchise-record 1,515 points with Indy.

The scoring numbers are only part of Vinatieri’s remarkable resume.

The four-time Super Bowl winner and three-time All-Pro was part of 242 regular-season wins, and broke career records for field-goal attempts (715) while becoming the third-oldest player to appear in an NFL game. He scored points in 47 stadiums, too.

Vinatieri played in six AFC championship games, five Super Bowls and a record 397 games including the playoffs. He also was selected to the NFL’s 100th anniversary team.

Vinatieri’s great-great-grandfather, Felix Vinatieri, was the bandmaster for Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer.

Yet Vinatieri managed to carve out his own spot in the record books.

His 21 100-point seasons shattered the previous mark of 16. He made a league record 10 game-winning kicks in overtime. He holds the league mark for consecutive field goals (44), and nobody has been better in the postseason, where he was 56 of 69 on field-goal attempts and has 238 points, all records.

SAINTS: J.D. Roberts, the second coach of the New Orleans Saints and the man who made Archie Manning his quarterback, has died. He was 88.

Roberts died Monday, according to the Memorial Park Funeral Home in Oklahoma City.

The former Marine lieutenant had a long stint as an assistant coach in college before becoming an original member of the Saints’ staff in 1967.

Named interim head coach on Nov. 3, 1970, Roberts spent the next two seasons in the full-time position. In Roberts’ first game in charge, the Saints beat the Detroit Lions 19-17 at Tulane Stadium when Tom Dempsey kicked a then-NFL record 63-yard field goal as time expired.

Roberts also served as the first coach for Manning, who had a prolific career with the Saints, mostly on losing teams, but is now best known as the father of two quarterbacks who won two Super Bowls each: Peyton Manning and younger brother Eli.

New Orleans finished 7-25-3 under Roberts. He was instrumental in the Saints’ decision to take Archie Manning with the No. 2 overall pick in the 1971 draft.

OWNERS MEETINGS: Commissioner Roger Goodell says the league expects full stadiums this season and players and staff are being encouraged to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

So far, 30 of 32 teams have approval to safely open at 100% capacity before the preseason schedule begins. The Colts and Broncos do not but are on a path to get approval before August.
• The NFL approved a rule change for player safety, expanding the prohibition for blocks below the waist.

• Rosters for training camp were set for a maximum of 90 players. A cutdown to 85 is due by Aug. 17 and a second cutdown to 80 a week later. Teams have to set their 53-man rosters by Aug. 31 after the third preseason game.

•  The league and the NFLPA agreed to set a salary cap ceiling of $208.2 million for 2022.

49ERS: Running back Jeff Wilson Jr. will miss the start of the 2021 season after undergoing surgery on his injured knee.

GM John Lynch said Wilson injured his knee last week following practice and a weightlifting session.

Lynch said Wilson felt a “pop” in his knee when he stood up Thursday after practice and an MRI determined he tore his meniscus. Wilson underwent surgery Friday and is expected to miss 4 to 6 months.