Amid injury reports — that turned from a calf strain into a high ankle injury — the Indianapolis Colts will bench star quarterback Andrew Luck for the preseason, as ESPN's Adam Schefter reports. The Colts will play Jacoby Brissett, Phillip Walker, and Chad Kelly in the exhibition games as Luck heals.
Colts now say QB Andrew Luck is likely to sit out the preseason with his ankle injury.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 14, 2019
Per The Athletic's Zak Keefer, via Twitter, the Colts “aren’t ready to determine whether Andrew Luck will or won’t be ready for a Week 1 start.”
Colts aren't ready to determine whether Andrew Luck will or won't be ready for a Week 1 start; plan right now is to calm the ankle pain down.
— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) August 13, 2019
Luck's 2019 injury saga has been worth tracking since he originally sustained a calf strain early in the team's training camp. He said on the injury, per the Colts official website, that he was taking it slowly, and that he can practice, but chooses not to since he'd be “average.”
To be the best quarterback I can to be — to help this team, like I want to him them — I can’t be, I’m not looking not for average. And, if I’m going out here with pain, I’ll be average. I will feel like an average quarterback and I’ll be an average quarterback. That’s not good enough for me, that’s not good enough for this club.”
On Monday, Colts owner Jim Irsay talked about the injury, saying “it's a small little bone,” and comparing it to the freakout after Kevin Durant tore his Achilles in the NBA Finals.
I know everyone’s had their questions about Andrew and that sort of thing, but I really feel very confident that he’s going to find his way through this thing,” Irsay said. “I think after the [Kevin] Durant thing [that] everyone’s erring on the side of caution, but quite frankly this is not even in the Achilles tendon. It’s in another area. It’s a bone. You know I’m not good at these things… It’s a small little bone,” Irsay said on Sirius XM NFL, via ESPN.
Luck is coming off of his fourth Pro Bowl appearance. He won the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year Award last season. He led the Colts to the playoffs after sitting all of 2017 following a major throwing shoulder injury.
