Malik Hooker’s season-ending injury was the headline of last week’s loss to the Jaguars, but the rest of the Colts’ secondary is extremely banged up as well.
Malik Hooker tore multiple ligaments in his knee and will miss the rest of his season after an awkward fall in Sunday’s game.
In addition to Hooker’s injury, the Colts listed four defensive backs on their Wednesday injury report with three of those injured players in the starting lineup.
Darius Butler, Vontae Davis, Rashaan Melvin, and T.J. Green all missed practice on Wednesday with various injuries.
Darius Butler is expected to fill in for Malik Hooker at free safety for the rest of the season, but the Colts may have to look further down on the depth chart if his ankle injury is serious.
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Vontae Davis and Rashaan Melvin are clearly Indianapolis’ top two cornerbacks, and they’ll be needed this week to slow down A.J. Green and the Bengals’ passing offense.
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Quincy Wilson has been a healthy scratch for the last four weeks, and the coaching staff will likely be forced to activate the second round rookie this week.
The Colts have a couple of other concerns on Wednesday’s injury report as center Ryan Kelly and outside linebacker John Simon were also unable to practice.
The offensive line was dominated on Sunday as the Jags racked up 10 sacks, and the absence of Ryan Kelly would be devastating as they go up against another strong defensive line this week.
Indianapolis also needs John Simon to create a pass rush with their injuries in the secondary. He played with a sore shoulder last week, but he’s currently questionable for Sunday’s game in Cincinnati.