While there’s been immense anticipation, Indianapolis Colts fans may have to wait a week or so for Ryan Kelly‘s debut, as the team’s prized rookie center has already been ruled out for Sunday’s Hall of Fame game against the Green Bay Packers:
"“Kelly’s not going to play,” said Pagano on Friday at practice. “I know that for sure, and there’s a good chance some of those other guys aren’t going to play.”"
Still dealing with a shoulder strain he suffered this past Sunday, Kelly hasn’t practiced all week in training camp, and the Colts are taking a cautious approach with this year’s 1st round pick.
There’s no question it would’ve been great to see Kelly taking his first gametime snaps with quarterback Andrew Luck; however, it shouldn’t be that big of a deal all things considered for Kelly’s continued development.
Especially considering that Luck, who’s fully healthy, may not even play himself:
"“Yeah, I don’t know,” added Pagano on Luck’s playing time for Sunday’s preseason game. “I’m going to go with my gut. I may wake up on Sunday morning and he may not play, our quarterback. Maybe he will. I don’t know, we’ll see.”"
Joining Luck on the sidelines could be Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who already isn’t expected to play in Sunday’s preseason opener.
While the Colts starters will presumably play in limited action, it shouldn’t be for more than a series or two this early in the preseason regardless.
Kelly means a great deal to the Colts chances of improving their offensive line play this upcoming season, and the team is being overly cautious with their highly regarded rookie center and rightfully so.
Same goes for Luck–even more so, as the Colts can’t risk injury to their franchise player especially with Kelly and possibly starting right tackle Joe Reitz being out with injuries on Sunday.
Joining Kelly on Sunday’s Colts inactive list could be WR Josh Boyce, DE Kendall Langford, WR Marcus Leak, OLB Robert Mathis, CB Tevin Mitchel, OT Joe Reitz, CB D’Joun Smith, OG Hugh Thornton–all of whom missed some practice time earlier this week with injuries respectively.
We’ll keep you updated.