INDIANAPOLIS — A nagging calf injury will result in Andrew Luck missing the entire on-field portion of the Indianapolis Colts' offseason workout program.
But neither the quarterback nor his head coach are worried one bit.
Both Luck and Colts head coach Frank Reich spoke to media on Tuesday, the first day of veteran minicamp — and the final step of the offseason workout program — and both expressed the desire to be ultra-conservative this time of the year.
"It's OK. It's not good enough to practice this week, which I'm bummed about," Luck said of his strained calf. "I'm bummed that I've had to miss all the OTAs and then again this week.
"I've dealt with injuries in the past and I think we are on a very, very good page and I'll be ready for training camp and the early report date and all that."
Luck suffered the injury during Phase 1 of the offseason program, and although he's been finding ways to keep his arm in shape since that time, the eighth-year signal caller did not participate in any of the team's 10 OTA practices; Reich confirmed Tuesday that Luck will also not participate in this week's minicamp, which wraps up on Thursday.
Reich admitted that Luck's recovery timeline has been on the "longer side," but the second-year head coach is extremely confident in Luck's availability once training camp gets started in late July.
"I mean, in my mind it's a no-brainer," Reich said about Luck being good to go to start camp. "I mean, you never know. You can always re-aggravate something, I suppose. He starts working out and this thing heals next week and then he goes out and is working out the next couple weeks and re-aggravate something. But barring anything crazy, in my mind it's more of a no-brainer."
Still, Luck missing the on-field portion of the offseason program means that he'll need to work that much harder to get on the same page with his pass catchers — particularly new guys like Devin Funchess and Parris Campbell — once he is able to return. Luck on Tuesday didn't rule out the possibility of arranging some throwing sessions with whoever is available once he is at 100 percent in the month-and-a-half break before the start of training camp.
"The top priority is health and making sure that I'm good for training camp, and anything beyond that is a bonus," Luck said. "If the opportunity presents itself, I'll obviously try to throw with whoever is available, but you also can't etch that in stone."
"You guys know Andrew: he will have a plan," Reich said. "We have already talked about it a little bit (and) what that is going to be. So we've talked about that. I'm sure he will make a lot of progress in that time and he has been doing stuff right now to make progress in that area with what he can do. So I feel very confident about it."
