Colts rookie defensive lineman Tyquan Lewis reportedly out 9 weeks

It looks as though the Colts may be without one of their second round picks for awhile. Rookie defensive lineman Tyquan Lewis will reportedly need to miss 9 weeks as he has struggled to recover from a foot injury per Zak Keefer of the Indy Star.

This is disappointing, because the Colts are in a period where they need their young players to develop and grow. Both 2nd round defensive linemen Tyquan Lewis and Kemoko Turay have missed most of the offseason with injuries, but Turay made his debut with the team last week in their first preseason game.

While losing Lewis is not ideal because we would like to see him develop, it may make Chris Ballard’s job a little easier with regard to narrowing down which players to keep on the roster. The defensive line is a relative strength of the team, and it was likely that they would have to cut a player they liked to get the roster down to 53.

Now, Chris Ballard could simply place Tyquan Lewis on injured reserve and bring him back for week 9 if he is healthy. Since that is the Colts’ bye week, it would even give him an extra week to get up to speed with the team.

Hopefully, Lewis can recover quickly and be ready to contribute down the stretch, because the Colts’ toughest schedule comes after the bye week and they’ll need as much help as they can get on defense.

Correction: In order to be able to place Tyquan Lewis on IR and be able to bring him back, he has to start the season on the 53-man roster. This means that the Colts will still have to make their cuts and Lewis would hold a roster spot until after that was done. He could then be allowed to be placed in IR and brought back in week nine.