For the first time in four weeks, Colts safety LaRon Landry will be available to play in an actual football game this Sunday, according to Mike Chappell of the Indianapolis Star.
I know, I'm kind of shocked too.
Landry hasn't played since the Colts' Week Two loss to the Dolphins, 24-20. In that game, he sustained a high ankle sprain. In fairness to Landry, high ankle sprains do take several weeks to heal. However, this is the same LaRon Landry who was notorious for getting hurt during his tenure with the Washington franchise. When he played on a one-year deal last season with a Jets, he miraculously never missed a game and parlayed that 16-game season into a 4-year, $24 million dollar contract with the Colts.
$11 million of that $24 mill is guaranteed, whether Landry starts, sits, or picks his nose.
Obviously, it's nice to have him back, but the reality is he hasn't really been missed. The Colts went 3-1 without him, including winning two of their biggest games of the year against the 49ers and Seahawks. Rookie safety Delano Howell has filled in so well for Landry that, if all things were equal, I'd say it makes more sense to keep Howell starting.
Things aren't equal though. Howell is making $400,000 this year. Landry is $11 million.
Money decides everything in the NFL, people. Everything.