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One of the Colts' best defenders last year was rookie defensive lineman Henry Anderson, who provided the Colts excellent play until tearing his ACL in the team's week nine win over the Denver Broncos.
Speaking at the AFC coaches breakfast this morning at the NFL owner's meetings, Colts head coach Chuck Pagano made it clear that the team is planning to bring Anderson back slowly as he continues to recover from his injury and that might mean the defensive lineman missing the start of training camp.
Pagano says Henry Anderson (Nov. ACL injury) probably won’t be ready for the start of Training Camp, again an earlier start to Camp in 2016.
— Kevin Bowen (@KBowenColts) March 22, 2016
re: Henry Anderson (knee), Colts going to bring him back slowly, Pagano says. Not committing to him starting tr. camp on the field just yet.
— Stephen Holder (@HolderStephen) March 22, 2016
This is no surprise, as all along the hope has been that Anderson could return in time for week one, not the start of training camp. It's still a long way away and it's unclear what the exact timetable is for Anderson, but we can be certain that the Colts will bring him back slowly as he does recover from a torn ACL.
It wouldn't have been a surprise at all had Anderson missed the start of training camp anyway, and now especially since the Colts will open earlier than other teams, it's even more likely that Anderson could be held out a bit. Since the Colts will play the Packers in the Hall of Fame game, they are allowed to start training camp earlier, making the start of camp likely around July 24. The team will almost certainly give Anderson all of the time he needs to get fully healthy, especially since camp starts earlier and they don't want to rush him back.
Anderson started the first nine games of the season last year for the Colts, recording 31 tackles, a sack, and two passes defensed while providing great help against the run. The only update we have heard so far was from Anderson a month ago, when he said that he was ahead of schedule and that he feels good, though a return date hadn't yet been estimated.