Colts place Trent Cole on injured reserve

The Indianapolis Colts today made a surprising move, placing outside linebacker Trent Cole on injured reserve. No corresponding move has yet been announced, meaning that they have an open roster spot available.

Cole has been dealing with a back issue this year that caused him to miss the team’s week two game, but he played 31 snaps on Sunday. Chuck Pagano didn’t mention Cole among the injuries post-game, but it’s obvious that something happened - whether he re-aggravated the back injury and made it worse or whether it’s a different injury. The move puts Cole out at least eight weeks, and perhaps more. Remember, teams no longer have to designate who will return from IR but rather can wait and see at the time, so we don’t know for sure whether Cole will be able to return this year - though hopefully we’ll find out more from Pagano later today. At the very least, he’ll be out eight weeks before the Colts could activate him to their 53-man roster, and at most he’ll be out all year.

The move leaves the Colts even thinner at outside linebacker than they were. Right now, the linebacker situation isn’t good. Erik Walden has easily been the best performer, while Robert Mathis is the starter opposite of him and is who the Colts are counting on to be their primary pass rusher. Other than those two, the Colts also have Akeem Ayers and Curt Maggitt at the position.

Through two games this year, Cole had recorded three tackles. Last year with the Colts, he played in 14 games (starting five) and recorded 32 tackles, three sacks, three passes defensed, and two forced fumbles. In his career, he has played in 171 games (starting 150) and has recorded 844 tackles, 88.5 sacks, 19 passes defensed, 21 forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, and an interception.

In addition to placing Cole on injured reserve, the Colts also made a practice squad move, signing guard Adam Redmond and releasing safety Lee Hightower.