Injury Update: Colts LB Pat Angerer to Miss Six Weeks, Scott Lutrus Done for Season
And so it continues.
The Colts' linebacking core already took a hit when rotational inside linebacker A.J. Edds tore his ACL earlier this offseason.
Now, the linebackers are hit with two more blows.
First, Scott Lutrus joins Edds and G/T Benjamin Ijalana with a season ending ACL tear. Lutrus may or may not have made the team, but any time you lose an asset for the season, especially at a position where one depth player has already been lost, it's concerning.
But the more critical blow is Pat Angerer's injury: a fractured bone in his foot. Angerer will require surgery and likely miss about six weeks, including the three or four weeks of the regular season.
Angerer is a quickly developing player, and one that I, and many Colts fans, had high hopes for this season. He is a key cog in the transition to a 3-4, and will be sorely missed for the first few weeks of the regular season.
Jerrell Freeman, Moise Fokou, Greg Lloyd, and Mario Harvey will all be in contention for the spot, although Freeman seems to have the early lead on it. Coach Pagano said today that the team will also keep an eye on the waiver wire, and free agents such as Gary Brackett may be an option as well (UPDATE: The reporters misheard Pagano, who said Brackett was NOT an option).
Offensive guard Mike McGlynn also has a high ankle sprain (varying amount of time dependent on degree of injury, up to six weeks is possible), and running backs Delone Carter and Mewelde Moore have rib issues (should just be day-to-day).
Seth Olsen should get more reps with McGlynn sitting, and rookie RB Vick Ballard may get a chance to shine in the next couple of days in place of Carter/Moore.
It'll be interesting to watch the injury situation this season -- specifically if the regime change will change the Colts' trend of higher than average games missed, starters on IR, etc. (If not, I'm going to double down on my whole 'karmic payback for the Mayflower thing' theory.)
Does anyone know if Grigson & Co. switched to a new training staff?
I love Angerer... but I wonder if this is the beginning of the end for him in Indy.
To me, he just doesn't seem like the type of linebacker Pagano is looking for. (Hope I'm wrong.)
@DougEngland He shouldn't be out long. Manusky was impressed with him during OTAs and Mini-camp, specifically naming him along with Mathis as players he was really impressed with. If he keeps getting hurt (which we all hope he won't), sure, but other wise I think he has a good shot at sticking for a while.
Week 4 is BYE and Week 5 is vs Packers, who can't run the ball, so not a huge problem missing Angerer for a short while.
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Brackett may be better suited to this system, maybe as a nickel LB, IMO. But I question if he's healthy. This regime doesn't seem to tolerate guys who are always getting hurt.
This stinks! Although Freeman, and Fokou looked alright out there (against Ram's 3rd string, I know...) to me. That is to say, there didn't seem like a huge drop off in the quality of the D when Angerer went out. Whats Fugger's story is he an OLB?
@Payton I expected the transition to be slow at first, but I thought he would be more than serviceable at ILB.
@Kyle Rodriguez Fair enough. My ceiling for him is more like average starter and this season is pretty much a wash anyway, so I wasn't exactly expecting a lot out of any remnants from last not named Powers, Bethea, Mathis, or Freeney on defense. Basically the only player I thought might have a chance to show vast improvement was Hughes but mostly because he did so little beforehand.
