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The Indianapolis Colts are wrapping up their offseason program today with the last day of their mandatory mini-camp, and it's the last day that the team will work together until they get to Anderson University later this summer for training camp.
Training camp is when things really start to pick up for the team, and they hope to have right tackle Gosder Cherilus back on the field by that point with the team, but that's far from a certainty. That's what general manager Ryan Grigson told members of the media today, per the Anderson Herald Bulletin's George Bremer:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Grigson: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Colts?src=hash">#Colts</a> hope Cherilus will be ready by camp. But RT just starting on road back to field.</p>— George Bremer (@gmbremer) <a href="https://twitter.com/gmbremer/status/609013192690397184">June 11, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Earlier this offseason, Grigson had mentioned that they were targeting a June return for Cherilus, so it sounds as if his recovery has taken longer than expected - something that shouldn't come as a surprise, given all of the uncertainty surrounding the situation. Now, it sounds like the Colts are hoping that their right tackle will be back on the field when they start training camp at the beginning of August, but it doesn't sound like a sure thing. In fact, the Indianapolis Star's Stephen Holder, who also spoke to Grigson this morning, said that his takeaway from the press conference was that "Cherilus [is] still far away."
All offseason long there have been questions about when Cherilus would be back, and it has always been a wait and see approach from the Colts. If Cherilus is back healthy he'll be their right tackle, but there is absolutely no guarantee that he'll be back healthy. Because of the uncertainty at the position, the Colts have moved Jack Mewhort to right tackle, where he has reportedly worked "exclusively" this offseason. He sounds like the contingency plan if Cherilus can't go, and Grigson is confident that the second-year lineman would do a good job at right tackle after playing at left guard in his rookie year.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Grigson on Mewhort at RT: likes that he played the position in college. Grigson said field tests, etc. will determine if Cherilus is ready</p>— Steve Andress (@ColtsReporter) <a href="https://twitter.com/ColtsReporter/status/609014645249183744">June 11, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Colts GM Ryan Grigson just met with the media and he's confident that they would be fine if Jack Mewhort has to start at right tackle</p>— Mike Wells (@MikeWellsNFL) <a href="https://twitter.com/MikeWellsNFL/status/609015702012489728">June 11, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
So while the hope is that Gosder Cherilus will be back by training camp, there is still a lot of uncertainty and a long way left to go before he's back on the field. And because of that, the Colts are working on getting Jack Mewhort up to speed to play right tackle. If you read between the lines, it is continuing to become more and more likely that Mewhort will open the season as the Colts' right tackle. But, of course, we'll have to wait until training camp and preseason to find out for sure.