Colts preparing as if Clayton Geathers won’t be ready for week one

There are a lot of injury situations to keep up with right now for the Colts, particularly on the defensive side of the football, but one player that hasn’t been talked about as much is safety Clayton Geathers.

He was making the jump into the full-time starting lineup this year after the departure of Dwight Lowery in free agency, but during the offseason he was injured working out away from the team, causing him to be placed on the non-football injury list with a broken foot to begin training camp.

Right now, the Colts are preparing as if he won’t be available for week one, head coach Chuck Pagano said today. “If he’s there, it’s a bonus,” Pagano added.

With the regular season opener now under three weeks away, the signs aren’t very encouraging in regards to a week one return for Geathers. He’s “very limited” right now in what he’s doing, Pagano said, and the safety’s work has been simply bike and treadmill stuff, not on-field work. When the regular season comes around, Pagano basically said that the team needs to decide whether to activate Geathers or place him on short-term IR, adding that it’s probably a better question for Ryan Grigson.

In the meantime, rookie T.J. Green is the Colts’ starting safety alongside Mike Adams. “He has no choice [but to be ready] and he’s doing well,” Pagano said today. Green has started both preseason games so far but has played surprisingly few snaps for a rookie who could be starting when the Colts open the season at home on September 11.

There’s still some hope that Clayton Geathers could return in time to be ready to start the season, but it’s looking pretty unlikely right now. So for the time being, the Colts are preparing T.J. Green as the starter and are preparing as if Geathers won’t be available.