Carson Wentz was returned to practice on Thursday and took most of the Colts' 11-on-11 reps, head coach Frank Reich said. While the Colts didn't "totally pull off the reins" Thursday, Reich said, Wentz "did a lot" during the padded practice.
"I thought he looked good," Reich added.
The Colts have Friday, Saturday and Sunday off before re-convening at the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center for a practice on Monday. If Wentz, who underwent a foot procedure on Aug. 2, responds well to Thursday and then Labor Day's practices, the expectation would be that he'd fully participate in Wednesday's practice.
And if that's the case, it'd be encouraging news for his potential availability for Sept. 12's season opener against the Seattle Seahawks at Lucas Oil Stadium, Reich said.
"I think it's generally safe to say that if we come in here and Carson is taking most of the reps on Wednesday, the intention is that he's going to play," Reich said. "And that the only thing that would inhibit that would be if all of a sudden Thursday there was some kind of setback. We gotta wait and see.
"Obviously as we said this last week was a setback to us that we didn't get a chance for him to get the work that we needed to see. Whatever, you deal with it, you move on and the good news is that even if something crazy like that happened and Jacob (Eason) had to step in, he's gotten a ton of reps."
Wentz said after Thursday's practice he's feeling "optimistic" but knows the ultimate decision on whether he plays Week 1 or not will come down to how his foot continues to respond to practicing in the coming days.
"I'm optimistic, but again, we'll see," Wentz said. "It's going to come down to how the doctors feel, where I'm at and everything. But just being out there full pads today, taking a handful of reps was definitely a step in the right direction."
