Colts trying to be smart with Jack Mewhort during OTAs as he returns from injury

Last December, Colts left guard Jack Mewhort went down with a knee injury that caused him to miss the remainder of the season.

While he said earlier this offseason that he was feeling great and was ready to go, the Colts are trying to be smart regarding how fast they bring him back. So as they go through the offseason program, they’re taking it slow with Mewhort.

He participated in Monday’s OTA practice, was held out on Tuesday, and should be back on the field for today’s practice.

“We’re just trying to be smart with him and manage his work load right now,” Chuck Pagano said on Tuesday. “He worked on Monday. The plan was to have today off and then he’ll come in and work tomorrow and work Thursday. The first two weeks of Phase III, the OTAs, you’re allowed to do three and three. We’ll finish up with OTA number three on Thursday and then everybody gets a four-day weekend for Memorial Day weekend and then we’ll come back and go to work on Tuesday.”

It doesn’t sound like there’s much concern with Mewhort, as it seems like the Colts are just being cautious and not wanting to rush anything. Since it’s only May and there are still a few months before the season begins, that’s absolutely the smart thing to do. While reps in OTAs can be valuable, the most important thing is making sure that guys stay as healthy as possible entering training camp in late July. So taking things slow with Mewhort to ensure that he’s back to full strength and helping him get acclimated to the football field after the injury are both smart moves.

Another Colts player also suffered a similar knee injury to the one that Mewhort did: Kendall Langford was injured in August, tried to play for the first several games and wasn’t effective, so he spent the second half of the season on IR. He’s still rehabbing from that injury.

“Kendall is here and he’s doing rehab,” Pagano said on Tuesday. “Again, with the knee and things like that, he’s going through rehab.”