Injury Update: Colts Missing Starting Safeties to Begin Training Camp

Chris Ballard spoke to the media ahead of training camp today and dropped some serious news as far as injuries.

Perhaps the most disturbing is the fact that Clayton Geathers had an offseason knee procedure that has him at about 80-85% currently, and Malik Hooker, who is recovering from his torn ACL and MCL will start training camp on the PUP list. That means that as of the beginning of training camp, the Colts are without either starting safety.

This is a pretty serious issue for a defense that desperately needs those two guys back and healthy. In a normal year it would be problematic enough to have your two starters miss training camp. In an offseason where they’ll be implementing a new defensive scheme, it is a real hurdle. It would not be surprising to see Ballard examine the free agent market again given the talent at safety that is out there.

It may seem like base treachery that the token Andrew Luck update didn’t make the top of the page, but it certainly is a positive update. Ballard reported that Luck is “good to go” for training camp, which is music to the ears of Colts fans, and really bad news for all those people who have been crowing forever about Luck’s career being over. He specifically stated that Luck would be taking normal QB reps when practicing, which is definitely encouraging. He also said he thinks Luck needs to play at least some in the preseason, which is not totally surprising.

You’ll also notice a couple other significant updates, like the one in the tweet addressing Geathers and Hooker that says Marlon Mack is at 100%. That’s excellent to hear because he’ll need to come bringing the heat to training camp to show he deserves to get the lion’s share of the carries in Frank Reich’s offense.

Also, Ballard noted that Anthony Costanzo is suffering with a hamstring strain that was a result of training, and will be a close call to start training camp. That would be less than ideal, as we would really like to get a look at this offensive line unit as a whole and start to be able to see it coalesce and build chemistry as training camp progresses.

All in all, a mixed bag of news as far as injuries go. The safety situation is one that bears watching closely, because the Colts secondary is very young and having both starters miss significant time in training camp will definitely have an impact.

Stay tuned to Stampede Blue for more updates.