It was revealed today by head coach Frank Reich that Luck won’t be participating in any drills this week, which means he won’t do anything until training camp.
This is what we were afraid of. Andrew Luck is not participating in veteran camp this week. That means he won’t do any sort of work with his teammates until training camp. This is all because of a calf strain that seems to have lingered longer than it should have.
The Colts are being ultra-conservative with him. They don’t want to risk any long-term injury with this calf strain. They want him to be completely healthy for next season. So sitting him now is the best way, in their view, to make sure that goal is accomplished.
There is concern over this injury though. It seems to have lingered far longer than anticipated. Calf strains typically aren’t this bad. Even coach Reich admitted it has stretched out longer than they thought. There could be more to it than just a strain.
Waiting until training camp is the prudent way to handle this. There’s no sense in putting Luck out there if he is feeling any pain at all. Luck says he’s been throwing the ball and this hasn’t prevented him from doing so. So he is at least getting some work in.
Of all the people on the team, Luck probably needs veteran camp the least. He’s been great every year he’s been in Indy. He knows the offense very well and should continue to play his best. There is no sense in jeopardizing that over meaningless workouts.
Now if the injury does linger into training camp, then there will be legitimate concerns. But until then, there isn’t too much to worry about.