Colts’ Henry Anderson activated off PUP list

Colts head coach Chuck Pagano said this afternoon at his press conference that defensive end Henry Anderson has been activated off of the physically unable to play list, meaning he is now eligible to practice with the team.

Anderson tore his ACL in week nine of the 2015 season after a very promising start to his rookie year, and he missed the offseason workouts as he recovered from the injury. He was placed on the PUP list to begin camp, but even then said that his knee felt “awesome.” There has been plenty of encouraging signs since then for Anderson, and last week Pagano said that the doctors had made clear that it was basically up to the coaches on when to activate him. The Colts have now done so, Pagano said today, meaning that Anderson is back.

Of course, the Colts will be very cautious with him as they work him back into the mix slowly. He still needs practice time to be able to get re-acclimated to the game, and he needs to learn to trust his knee and get over the mental hurdles in that regard. But while the Colts will work him back slowly, this is undoubtedly major news and a major step in the recovery process for one of the team’s best defensive players. With the start of the regular season just under three weeks away, it seems like a very realistic possibility that Anderson might be able to play in at least some capacity, which would be a huge boost to the Indianapolis defense.