There has been a flurry of news coming out of Colts camp in the past 24 hours. First, the Colts made two roster moves — officially waving DB David Caldwell, replacing him with DB Donye McCleskey.
Second, a list was released Saturday morning naming the players the Colts expect to miss Sunday’s preseason opener against the San Fransisco 49ers. The eight colts on the list were: C Jeff Saturday, TE Dallas Clark, OT Charlie Johnson, LB Clint Session, WR Pierre Garcon, OG Jacques McClendon, DE Keyunta Dawson, and LB Ramon Humber.
Saturday and Johnson, two starters on the offensive line, are out for an indefinite amount of time
with significant injuries to their knee and foot, respectively. Clark, on the other hand, suffered
what the Colts are calling a tweak of his hamstring during Friday’s practice. The injury does not
appear to be severe, however, as Clark is not expected to miss much time.
The remainder of the hold outs appear to be precautionary for players dealing with minor bumps and bruises. Coach Jim Caldwell said earlier this year that the best ability is availability, and it’s clear that the Colts want to keep their players as fresh as possible for the regular season.
When speaking on what he’s looking for on Sunday’s game, Caldwell said, “The big thing I certainly want to see is efficiency. (Another) big thing is whether or not they can do their job and do it well at the speed that is required. I do think that we have a lot of capable and able-bodied young guys who are excited about this opportunity. We are looking forward to that.”
The perfomance of the rookies will be an area of particular interest. It will be interesting to see
if they are mentally prepared for the game and making good decisions, even if the play isn’t always a success. Another area of interest will be how the offensive line, paritularly the interior of the line, holds up at the point of attack.
Less than a day till kick-off, when we can stop speculating, and start enjoying some Colts football
again.
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