Indianapolis Colts Head Coach Frank Reich announced on Tuesday that linebacker Anthony Walker will miss a few weeks of practice with a groin injury.
Walker, who played in 10 games last season and started in two of them, is a favorite to begin the season as the starting MIKE linebacker. Although he did not play a full rookie season last year, he did show some flashes of talent, especially towards the end of the season.
Earlier this offseason, Walker had entered the concussion protocol after being carted off the field in practice. However, he was cleared in about a week. Both he and the Colts will hope that this is his last injury and that he does not continue to be frequently injured.
It appears that undrafted rookie linebacker Skai Moore will be taking many of the 1st team practice reps that Walker has now vacated because of injury. Moore played four years of college football at the University of South Carolina. He was very accomplished at USC and made an All-SEC team in both 2015 and 2017.
Although Moore proved himself to be very talented, he was not selected in the 2018 NFL Draft, largely because he is undersized. Moore will hope to prove to the Colts that his smaller stature will not limit him, as it did not in college.
The Colts already did not have much depth or experience at linebacker, so losing Walker is not a good start to training camp. However, Reich can only hope that some of the younger linebackers on the roster can step up and become producers on a team that has not had a solid linebacker corps in over a decade.