INDIANAPOLIS — Could Andrew Luck make his return to the practice field this week for the first time all year?
"Like last week, there's a possibility," head coach Chuck Pagano said late Monday afternoon on his weekly appearance on 1070 The Fan's "Colts Roundtable Live."
The Indianapolis Colts quarterback has been working his way back since undergoing surgery to his throwing shoulder in January, and last Wednesday Pagano told the media Luck was "still a week away as far as his throwing progression and things like that."
Pagano stressed at that time there had been no setbacks in Luck's rehab work, and that while the team was "hopeful" to see him back on the practice field last week, it simply "didn't work out" that way.
The sixth-year Colts head coach used that word, "hopeful," again on Monday when discussing the possibility of Luck returning to the practice field this week.
"I mean, he's making great progress with his strength, his rehab; his throwing progression is going well," Pagano said. "So there's a possibility. I won't guarantee anything, but, yeah, we're hopeful that he might be able to get out there."
Pagano said that once Luck is cleared to practice, the team will carefully monitor his workload. While the team would like to get him up to speed as quickly as possible, it still needs to prepare Jacoby Brissett as its starter until Luck is 100-percent ready for game action.
"When we say, 'Get back to practice,' everybody has to understand that he's not going to come back out and take all the first-team reps and play 50, 60, 70 snaps in practice a day," Pagano said. "I mean, we have to integrate him back into practice, so like anybody else, (he'll) do some individual (drills), throw some routes versus air, stay with his throwing progression and (we'll) bring him along."
That being said, Pagano is no different than those within the team's fanbase who are eagerly awaiting the sight of No. 12 taking the next big step in his rehab and recovery.
"It'd be great just to have him out there with his teammates, red jersey on, working again," Pagano said.
