INDIANAPOLIS —Ryan Kelly's timing is impeccable.
The Indianapolis Colts' center, who just returned to practice last week in a limited capacity for the first time since an Aug. 10 foot injury, is expected to be a full participant this week, and could very well make his 2017 debut in Sunday's game against the San Francisco 49ers.
That's according to general manager Chris Ballard, whose Colts team saw rookie Deyshawn Bond, Kelly's replacement the first four games of the season, suffer a season-ending quad injury just two plays into last Sunday's game against the Seattle Seahawks.
"We're going to get Ryan back this week," Ballard said Monday on 1070 The Fan's "Colts Roundtable Live." "He actually practiced last week, which was good. And we worked him back him — (he) got, I think it was 10, 12 and 15 reps, plus individual (drills). So now we'll get him back full-time this week — and the timing's good. Because we need him."
Kelly, who started all 16 games as a rookie last year, said it's been tough watching from the sidelines the first quarter of the season, but he's kept himself busy rehabbing and staying up to speed mentally so that he could get back to the field as soon as he could.
"I feel good. I feel stronger," Kelly said last week. "Obviously I've been trying to stay in (condition), because you're limited in what you can really do on the field conditioning-wise. There's a difference between being in shape and being in football shape, and I think I've been trying to maintain that level of preparedness and stuff so that when I come back, it's not such a hurdle to get back into shape. So I'm doing that, keeping a mental edge on it and trying to take it one day at a time."
Kelly's not the only player that could make his return to the Colts' lineup against the 49ers on Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Ballard said that rookie cornerback Quincy Wilson, who has sat out the last two games with a knee injury, "should be back this week."
Wilson, the Colts' second-round (40th-overall) draft pick this year out of Florida, earned his first-career start Week 2 against the Arizona Cardinals and collected two tackles and two passes defensed, and his tight coverage on wide receiver J.J. Nelson allowed fellow rookie safety Malik Hooker to grab his first-career interception late in the second quarter.
"We were encouraged with what we saw versus Arizona, against a very good passing team — a good quarterback and a good set of receivers," Ballard said of Wilson's play. "And so that's a really good sign."
