Crowded Colts tight end room got some unfortunate clarity after Jelani Woods injury

Indianapolis Colts tight end Jelani Woods suffered what was believed to be a minor toe injury on Saturday’s preseason victory over Arizona. That story has changed, though, and Colts head coach Shane Steichen announced that he suffered a turf toe injury that will require surgery to fix the issue.

That means the Colts tight end will miss some time, and will do so as the regular season starts in a few weeks. The severity of this injury and the timeline of absence has yet to be determined, but the likelihood that he's back by Week 1 doesn't seem high.

Losing Woods isn't ideal, but he's not going to miss the season. In the interim, the Colts now have some clarity about how to move forward with their roster construction.

With Woods out, a tough decision for this coaching staff, unfortunately, became much more manageable. The tight end room had five capable roster players but only four realistic spots up for grabs. With presumptive starters Mo Alie-Cox and Kylen Granson both in contract years, this was supposed to be the season that Jelani Woods was hoping to break out and move forward in his development after missing all last season with a hamstring injury.

With that opportunity delayed, the tight end room will now keep presumably four players with Mo Alie-Cox and Kylen Granson as the starters and will have Drew Ogletree and Will Mallory in the rotational roles.

What does the injury mean for the future of Jelani Woods?

This was supposed to be the breakout season for Woods, but now the delay will stunt his development even further. Shane Steichen's often-coy nature was no different when asked about the severity of the injury, but turf toe injuries can vary depending on severity. Since surgery will occur, we can safely assume that it is on the longer end of the spectrum of recovery and missing half the season at a minimum could be in play.

Chances are the staff will keep him on the injured reserve roster to start the season instead of cutting him because of this injury. The Colts could cut him outright, but because of the injury, the franchise still does not know what they have in him yet. The Steichen regime did not draft him, so they only saw him in even with reported struggles. A staff’s worst nightmare is to cut a player to then watch him flourish in another system.

I fully expect Jelani Woods to be placed on injured reserve by Tuesday at 4pm when roster cuts to 53 are mandated by the NFL. It’s not quite the end for Jelani Woods in a Colts uniform and we wish him a full and speedy recovery but as his injuries pile up the doubt continues to grow.