Indianapolis Colts: Offensive injuries raise big concerns

The Indianapolis Colts hoped to improve in the 2017 season, but injuries to guys like Andrew Luck and Ryan Kelly could severely hurt those plans.

After an 8-8 record in the 2016 NFL season, the Indianapolis Colts made some big changes, hoping that they were for the better. They ousted general manager Ryan Grigson (rightfully so) and brought in Chris Ballard, a mind well respected around the league. With Ballard, they upped the talent level on defense and seemingly had a better outlook for the 2017 campaign than they otherwise would have had Grigson remained.

No matter who the GM is in Indy, though, their successes begin and end with quarterback Andrew Luck. Even with bad supporting casts on both sides of the ball, he’s proven talented enough to give his team a chance. Yet, the storylines surrounding the Stanford product this offseason haven’t been comforting.

The Colts star quarterback underwent surgery this offseason to repair his labrum. A quarterback having shoulder surgery is eyebrow-raising in itself. However, the Colts also tried to keep everything very under wraps. In fact, that’s still the case.

When owner Jim Irsay recently spoke to the media, Gregg Doyel of the Indy Star reported that he wouldn’t give much clarity about Lucky being ready to start the regular season. In fact, it’s hard to understand what Irsay was trying to say:

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"Let’s start here, with the Colts’ season opener in Los Angeles against the Rams, and whether Luck — who has started throwing the football — is on track to play there:“I can’t say that unequivocally he’ll be ready for the Ram game,” Irsay said, “but I can say I feel very confident that he’ll be ready to start the season. Now that may not be the Ram game, but to start the season, yes.”"

If you feel like you just got spun around like inside a teacup at Disneyland, you’re not alone. Irsay simultaneously says that Luck will be ready for the start of the season and that he may not be ready to play come Week 1.

Regardless of Irsay’s perhaps misdirection, the point is that Luck — currently on the PUP list in training camp — may not be ready for the start of the season. It’s a long dropoff from Luck to Scott Tolzien, a fall that Colts fans cringe at the thought of. Thus, that’s a bad look for them in any regard.

Making matters worse, however, is that the offensive line in front of Luck or Tolzien is going to be banged up. Even more unfortunate is that it’s the best player on a weak unit. Per Stephen Holder of the Indy Star, rest didn’t work for center Ryan Kelly to heal and he needs surgery:

As such, Holder later added that the star center out of Alabama could miss regular season time as well. For an O-line that wasn’t thought of as particularly strong to begin with, that’s a huge blow to lose the best player up front. And if it’s in front of a backup quarterback, that’s even worse.

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There were always going to be questions about the Colts heading into the year. Yes, they added both rookies and veterans to improve the defense, but the unit likely still will be suspect. However, if they can’t even count on the offense to start the year due to health, that’s a major issue for them. That’s supposed to be their bread and butter. And without Luck and Kelly, they may not have bread or butter to start the 2017 season.