Colts place Ahmad Bradshaw on injured reserve, sign Zurlon Tipton

The Indianapolis Colts this morning placed running back Ahmad Bradshaw on injured reserve and signed running back Zurlon Tipton back to the active roster.

Bradshaw suffered a wrist injury during the Colts' 25-12 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and while he told ESPN's Josina Anderson that the preliminary x-rays were negative, the injury was apparently serious enough that it will end his season.  It's the third straight season on injured reserve for Bradshaw after suffering a neck injury in 2013 and a leg injury in 2014.  Unfortunately, that's the downside to signing Bradshaw, as he can be a dynamic playmaker but who struggles to stay healthy.

Without a doubt, the loss of Bradshaw is a significant one for the Colts' offense.  Their running back duo of Frank Gore and Ahmad Bradshaw was a great representation of what they want to do and was a dangerous combination, while Bradshaw provided a huge boost in the passing game.  He's a great blocker in pass protection and a dangerous receiver, particularly in the red zone and in short yardage situations.

In six games this year with the Colts, Bradshaw rushed 31 times for 85 yards and caught 10 passes for 64 yards and three touchdowns.  He was seeing his workload increase recently, and the Colts were beginning to get creative with their very good running back duo - on Sunday, they lined both of them up in the backfield in the I-formation on a few occasions.  In the last two seasons with the Colts, Bradshaw has played in 16 games and has caught nine touchdowns, proving to be a very dangerous threat.

With Bradshaw now done for the year, the signing of Boom Herron last week looks absolutely huge.  The Colts claimed Herron off of waivers from the Bills last week and the running back was active on gameday yesterday, and now he will take over as the number two back behind Frank Gore - exactly what was expected to happen entering the season until Herron's shoulder injury.  He showed last year with the Colts that he can be a very capable change of pace back and can help the offense as he helped make up for the loss of Bradshaw, so hopefully he will be able to do that again.

Zurlon Tipton was waived last week to make room for Herron, but now he's back on the active roster after just a few days away due to the injury to Bradshaw.  Tipton will fill the number three running back role, like he has for much of this season.