Colts Thursday Injury Report: Andrew Luck returns in limited role, Ryan Kelly misses practice

The Indianapolis Colts were back on the practice field in Indianapolis this afternoon as they continued preparations for their upcoming game against the San Diego Chargers.

The team’s injury report is quite lengthy this week, as 18 of 53 players are on it so far. Granted, some are just rest days while others are week-to-week (and everything in between), but that’s still not a great look.

Here’s a look at today’s full practice report:

Did Not Practice:

Darius Butler, CB (hamstring)

Denzelle Good, T (back)

Ryan Kelly, C (shoulder)

Donte Moncrief, WR (shoulder)

D’Qwell Jackson, ILB (rest)

Limited Participation:

Trent Cole, OLB (back)

Vontae Davis, CB (ankle)

T.J. Green, S (knee)

T.Y. Hilton, WR (knee)

Kendall Langford, DE (abdomen)

Andrew Luck, QB (right shoulder)

Joe Reitz, G (calf and neck)

Full Participation:

Henry Anderson, DT (knee)

Antonio Cromartie, DB (ribs)

Clayton Geathers, S (foot)

Frank Gore, RB (rest Wednesday)

Robert Mathis, OLB (rest Wednesday)

The big news here is in regards to the team’s most important player, as Andrew Luck returned today in a limited role after missing practice yesterday. He’s confident in playing Sunday and there shouldn’t really be concern about his game status, but it’s at least a mild level of concern when he has soreness in his throwing shoulder following a game, sits out of practice on Wednesday, and then is only limited on Thursday. Again, nothing to freak out about, but it’s also a situation worth monitoring.

Another notable aspect of today’s injury report is that center Ryan Kelly made his debut on the list as he missed practice today with a shoulder injury. We don’t really have any specifics of the injury, but it is worth noting that he missed some time with a shoulder injury in training camp. Whether this is related to that or not, we don’t know, but hopefully this is just a case of the Colts taking it easy with a starter - but we should know more tomorrow regardless. Another starting offensive lineman, Denzelle Good, missed practice for the second straight day today, putting his availability for Sunday’s game further in doubt. If he can’t go, offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski today mentioned Jonotthan Harrison and Joe Haeg as possibilities to fill in. A third starting lineman, Joe Reitz, was limited in practice today with calf and neck injuries, but that’s an improvement from his status yesterday when he sat out of practice. But no matter how severe these injuries turn out to be, seeing three of the four starting linemen either limited or worse today isn’t too encouraging.

T.Y. Hilton also made an appearance on the injury report today as limited with a knee injury, a new addition to the report this week but an injury that limited him in practice last week as well.

The other two changes to the injury report today that we haven’t noted yet include two cornerbacks. Antonio Cromartie, who was limited yesterday, was a full participant today. And more noteworthy (since Cromartie’s status for Sunday never seemed in doubt), Patrick Robinson was a full participant today and was out of his red non-contact jersey (he was limited yesterday and wearing the red jersey). That’s a sign that he’s passed the concussion protocol and been cleared to return, which if true should mean he’ll be able to play Sunday.