Colts safety T.J. Green suffers strained calf, considered day-to-day

Yesterday, Colts rookie safety T.J. Green went out with an apparent injury, though after practice the team said it was just cramps.

It turns out that wasn’t the case, however, as head coach Chuck Pagano said that Green had a “slight, mild” strained calf and is day-to-day. “Hopefully [he’ll] just miss a couple of days,” Pagano said. Also, inside linebacker Sio Moore had someone step on his toe yesterday and he is doubtful for practice today but should be back tomorrow.

It seemed clear at practice yesterday that Green had more than just cramping. Very early in practice he was getting his leg stretched out by trainers and was getting worked on for quite a while. Eventually, he slowly made his way over to the trainer’s tent, where he continued to get worked on and at one point had his left calf wrapped. After staying in the tent for a long time, he began to walk back to join his teammates to watch the end of practice, but he was walking very gingerly as he did so. It appeared to be more than cramps and I wrote as much yesterday, and the Colts today confirmed that it’s a mild calf strain (while adding that they thought it was just cramps yesterday).

It’s not an ideal situation for the Colts to have Green miss time, as starting safety Clayton Geathers is already out with an injury and is week-to-week. This means that Winston Guy will step in and see first team reps alongside Mike Adams in practice until Green can return, and then Green will see the first team reps until Geathers can return. But while it’s not ideal, it’s also not the worst thing to happen. It’s just the beginning of camp and the Colts will have five preseason games this year, so there will be plenty of time to get to see Green on the field. The most important thing right now is for Green to get healthy, and there’s no reason to rush him back. He’ll probably miss a couple of days and then should return to practice soon, as it doesn’t sound like a serious injury.