The Indianapolis Colts don’t currently have any plans to place linebacker Shaquille Leonard on the PUP list to begin the season, but head coach Frank Reich still acknowledged that move is a possibility.
Leonard hasn’t practiced at all through training camp and the preseason as he recovers from offseason back surgery. He’s currently residing on the Active/PUP list, which means he’s still on the active roster in a technical sense.
If the Colts were to put Leonard on the reserve/PUP list, an option that is now available to them, he would automatically miss the first four games of the season and would not be able to practice until that time has passed.
So when asked if Leonard is a candidate for the reserve/PUP list, Reich noted the team doesn’t want to go that route even if the All-Pro isn’t truly ready to play in games.
“From our standpoint, we really want to get him back out there when he’s cleared. But even if he’s not ready to play, get him out there. And you can’t get out there if you’re on PUP. You can’t participate in anything,” Reich said Tuesday. “So we want to get (Shaquille Leonard) participating, so at some point, even if he’s not ready to play, we have to get him off PUP and get him taking reps even if it takes however many weeks it’s going to take to get him ready.”
It still isn’t clear when Leonard will be back but if he’s not going on the PUP list, we should assume he’s going to be ready within the first four games of the season.
We’ll see how this all plays out, but there’s a growing chance the Colts are without Leonard for their Week 1 season opener against the Houston Texans.
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