Andrew Luck has injury setback, Colts won't promise that he'll return in 2017
The Colts star quarterback could end up missing the entire 2017 season
Exactly two weeks after returning to practice, Colts quarterback Andrew Luck has hit a giant setback in his rehab.
Colts general manager Chris Ballard announced Wednesday that Luck is dealing with some shoulder soreness that's been so painful the quarterback had to be given a cortisone shot. The soreness will keep Luck out of practice for the rest of the week, and possibly longer.
Ballard said Luck's recovery was coming along as scheduled before this week's complication.
"In terms of rehab, it's going well," Ballard said, via the team's official website. "You've seen him throw, I've watched every session of him throwing and it's been going really well. His velocity is good, his motion is good, all that is coming along at a good rate. It's the soreness right now that we're dealing with and that we have to get through."
After the soreness hit, the team decided that shutting down Luck for the immediate future was the best long-term move for the organization.
"We're going to try to shut him down and calm it down for right now," Ballard said. "His long-term success is what we're looking for. Much like with any player, that's what's important to us."
One question Ballard refused to answer was whether Luck would play this season. Although the Colts still have 10 games remaining over the next two and a half months, Ballard ducked the question when asked if Luck would be back on the field this year.
"I don't want to speculate right now," Ballard said. "I'm not going to put a timeline on that."
Ballard said the team currently has no plans to place Luck on injured reserve, which would end his season.
Luck was asked by NFL.com on Monday if he might be able to play by November, and all he would say is that there's no timetable for his return. Although Luck has been practicing with the Colts off and on since Oct. 4, he's come nowhere close to being game ready.
The Colts quarterback hasn't played in a game since December, and it's slowly starting to look like we might not see him on the field again until the 2018 season. The setback in Luck's recovery this week came almost exactly 10 months after he originally underwent shoulder surgery in January.
With Luck out indefinitely, that means the Colts will move forward with Jacoby Brissett as their starting quarterback. The former Patriots backup has started five games for Indy since being acquired in a September trade that sent Phillip Dorsett to New England.
















