Colts defensive end Kendall Langford out 3-4 weeks after having knee scoped

Colts head coach Chuck Pagano provided an injury update on Tuesday morning for several players, the most notable of which was Kendall Langford.

Langford had an issue last week with his knee during practice as he tweaked it, and the ensuing MRI revealed a “chondral defect” (which is an articular cartilage injury). So the Colts sent him to Dr. Andrews to have his knee scoped, a procedure he had yesterday. He’ll be back with the Colts on Thursday and will be out three to four weeks.

Losing Langford for any length of time would be a significant loss for the Colts, as he was one of their best and most reliable defensive players last year. Along with Henry Anderson, this means that the Colts are now without their two best defensive linemen and two of their best defensive players period at the time being. Langford has never missed an NFL game, as he has played in 128 straight games to begin his NFL career. Pagano pointed to that “ironman” streak today when asked whether Langford will play in the season opener, adding “I’m counting on it.”

In Langford’s absence, Zach Kerr will step in and take the “lion’s share” of first-team reps at the five-technique, and then David Parry and T.Y. McGill inside with Ricky Lumpkin, Hassan Ridgeway, and others (like Sterling Bailey and Delvon Simmons) at the three-technique. “We’ve got a bunch of guys that know a bunch of different spots, so that helps,” Pagano said.

As far as the other injury updates go, Hugh Thornton (ankle), Tevin Mitchel (hamstring), Joe Reitz (groin), Pat McAfee (knee), Robert Mathis (rest/knee), and Marcus Leak (quad) are all day-to-day. As far as Ryan Kelly goes, the Colts hope to have him back today and will begin him with individual work as they work him back into the mix. The Colts hope to have Reitz back at practice tomorrow, and as far as McAfee’s injury goes he tweaked his knee in practice last week so the team is erring on the side of caution. That’s the reason they signed Michael Palardy, as he would have been the punter and kickoff guy in the Hall of Fame game. Henry Anderson is doing well in his recovery and is ahead of schedule, and now the big question with him is simply when to put him back on the field to see action, as facing a double-team is much different than doing individual work on a side field. Clayton Geathers is still in his boot, but Pagano said that both Anderson and Geathers are “doing well.”