INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis Colts head coach Chuck Pagano on Monday said No. 2 tight end Mo Alie-Cox will be "week-to-week" after undergoing a minor knee scope in recent days.
In a conference call with reporters, Pagano said Swoope's knee "blew up on him a week or so ago," but that he had a minor procedure performed to clean it up, and isn't immediately expected to miss a significant amount of time.
"Swoopey's a good player, and he's a mismatch guy, and those guys are hard to find and hard to replace," Pagano said. "We'll miss him for a while, but he'll be back."
A converted college basketball player who had not played organized football prior to being signed by the Colts during the 2014 offseason, Swoope has caught on to the nuances of the tight end position quickly. His size — 6-foot-5, 258 pounds — and athleticism certainly helps, but coaches have noted how hard Swoope has worked both on the field and in the meeting room to rapidly improve over the past three-plus years.
Last year, in his first full NFL season, Swoope played in all 16 games, starting four, and had 15 receptions for 297 yards with a touchdown.
This year, with the offseason trade of former No. 1 tight end Dwayne Allen and the re-signing of Jack Doyle to be the team's top player at the position, Swoope has been fully expected to step up into the No. 2 role and really evolve into an all-around player.
He has drawn praise from Pagano and offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski for doing everything possible to achieve that goal heading into the regular season.
"He has worked and done a great job with his body," Chudzinski said of Swoope on Aug. 3. "Over time, basketball guys who have converted to play football get more used to the football specific movements. The game is a little bit different when you have a ball in your hand. Basketball is kind of a start-stop, you can take your time. Football is continuous movement once the play goes. There are a lot of little things like that that guys learn. He has worked extremely hard, as you guys know. He is still getting better, like we talked about, every day."
The Colts have several candidates in-house who will be expected to step in to Swoope's spot until his return, including fifth-year veteran Brandon Williams, first-year tight end Henry Krieger-Coble and rookies Darrell Daniels and Steven Wroblewski.
In Sunday's preseason opener against the Detroit Lions, Daniels unofficially played 34 offensive snaps, followed by Williams (18) and Krieger-Coble and Wroblewski (14 each).
"We need to find ways to get those other guys involved," Pagano said.
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