Colts QB’s return unknown but shoulder is ‘improving’
Andrew Luck tried to ease all doubts about his surgically-repaired right shoulder Saturday.
He will have to return to the field to actually prove it — and nobody knows when that will be.
For the first time in six NFL seasons, Luck will not suit up when his teammates hold their first training camp practice Sunday. Instead, he will continue coaching them in meetings and from the sideline, just like he has done for months.
“It does feel different than it did last year,” Luck said. “I still have a ways to go in terms of regaining the strength, but I know every day it’s improving. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
That is about the best update coach Chuck Pagano could have received when players reported to the team complex.
General manager Chris Ballard announced Monday that Indy’s franchise quarterback would go on the physically unable to perform list, though he remains hopeful Luck will start the Sept. 10 season opener on the road against the Rams.
There are obvious reasons for concern.
Ballard said Luck began throwing last week. On Saturday, Luck told reporters he started by throwing a tennis ball but would not say whether he is throwing a football yet.
Neither the team nor Luck has established a timetable for his return, giving Luck just six more weeks to rebuild his strength, regain his throwing motion and get in football shape before the games count. COWBOYS: Dallas owner Jerry Jones says “everything’s in place” for an NFL decision over a possible suspension of Ezekiel
Elliott and that his star running back met recently with league officials.
Elliott, the NFL rushing leader last season as a rookie, could be suspended over a domestic incident with his then-girlfriend last year even though prosecutors in Ohio declined to pursue the case.
CHARGERS: Rookie receiver Mike Williams has been placed on the physically unable to perform list with a back injury.
The Chargers are optimistic the seventh-overall pick can avoid major surgery. The Clemson product herniated a disk in his lower back during the first day of the Chargers’ offseason program.
RAIDERS: Pro Bowl left tackle Donald Penn is holding out because he wants to renegotiate his contract.
The 34-year-old Penn, who is entering the final year of an $11.9 million, twoyear contract, was not on the field for the Raiders’ first practice Saturday.
TITANS: Tennessee has wrapped up the last of the NFL’s draft picks still without a deal, agreeing to terms with the first wide receiver selected overall in Corey Davis. Terms were not disclosed.