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I think I can comfortably speak for all Indianapolis Colts fans when I say that the last thing anyone wants to hear about is shoulder surgery. Well, this time it isn’t Andrew Luck that we’re hearing this about, rather the Colts’ second-year running back Marlon Mack.
Alex Marves who hosts his NFL show on SiriusXM radio, was joined by Chris Ballard Tuesday night in which the Colts GM revealed that Mack had not only gone under the knife in the offseason, but that he’d played through the injury in 2017.
.@Colts GM Chris Ballard tells @SiriusXMNFL that RB @Marlon_Mack25 underwent offseason shoulder surgery after playing entire rookie season with torn labrum. Should be full participant in training camp
— Alex Marvez (@alexmarvez) May 2, 2018
Now the good news, you can see, is that Ballard expects Mack to be a full participant in training camp when it rolls around. The intrigue comes with the presumption as to whether or not Mack is the Colts’ starter in the backfield in 2018.
Not necessarily due to the surgery, but to the point of the Colts adding two backs in the NFL Draft, and whether or not one of those additions may actually be a fallback if Mack can’t go as expected. Mack did show some of his big-play ability last season, but he also needs to show some real progress between years one and two.
Mack racked up 4 total touchdowns last season, and a 3.8 yards per carry average despite being hampered with a torn labrum. The Colts now have four running backs who are 23 years of age or younger. They do have Robert Turbin, who has a very defined role in short-yardage situations, but otherwise a very hodge-podge group of backs including Christine Michael, who could be a real long shot to make the roster.
This may potentially still set Mack back in camp, even if he’s deemed to be healthy by then. Seems that adding two additional running backs was a pretty good idea now that this news is out. With a healthy Mack, this team brings an interesting dynamic to the backfield alongside Nyheim Hines, Jordan Wilkins and whoever else is in contention to make the roster this summer.
Without Mack, should any complications arise, there could be an immense amount of uncertainty at the position, and a possible heavy reliance on backs with no NFL experience. This is something we should be following closely as camp is only a couple months away.