Colts Injury Updates: Hooker and Geathers full participants in practice

Some solid news came out of the Colts first day of joint practice with the Baltimore Ravens yesterday. Safeties Malik Hooker and Clayton Geathers were both full participants in practice and making yet another step toward being ready to go to start the regular season.

Geathers had one of his most physical outings yet, although live tackling was not a part of the practice. There was still a fair bit of contact, and it is good to see Geathers getting back in form prior to any game action. Frank Reich has suggested that Geathers may see the field some on Monday provided that his progress continues.

The impact these two players have on the defense is significant. Geathers is a sure tackler and a guy who is wholly unafraid to stop a running back dead in his tracks. He is sort of a poor man’s Bob Sanders, and we can only hope the injury bug he has struggled with is in the rear view, which is something Sanders could never quite kick.

Hooker getting back is critical. This defense will rely heavily on his playmaking ability, and the Colts will desperately need him to get takeaways. He showed last season that he was up to the task, but he will need to take another step to help improve this team. The Colts won’t want to rush him back, but if he were able to get some real play in before the regular season, that would be ideal.

In other positive injury news, rookie defensive end Kemoko Turay also took a step toward full recovery, dressing for a light day and being limited in his participation. Turay was running with the first team through much of the early part of camp prior to injuring his knee. He will likely take his return slowly, but Reich spoke positively about the timeline for his return, stating that he was really close and speaking as if he expected Turay to be able to participate in the 3^rd and 4^th preseason games.

Also taking another step was rookie defensive tackle Tyquan Lewis. Lewis was another guy who had been getting reps with both the first and second team on the defensive line and who the Colts hoped to work into the rotation early. He is still recovering from a foot injury, but was on the sideline working with the training staff, which was the last step for Clayton Geathers and Malik Hooker before they made their return. Hopefully this means the Colts will have both their rookie defensive linemen ready to go by the start of the season.

Finally, Denzelle Good did not practice, but said he had suffered a grade 2 hamstring tear. His hope is to be back in action next week. Given the Colts struggles at the tackle position, I expect they will slow track both Castonzo and Good to make sure they are fully healed before the season begins, because the depth at tackle is so poor that they cannot afford to lose anyone for a long period of time without some serious problems.