Colts' Wentz, Kelly, Pascal Back from COVID List, Hilton, Ehlinger, Patmon Land On IR

On Thursday morning, the Indianapolis Colts announced a handful of roster moves as they activated quarterback Carson Wentz, center Ryan Kelly, and wide receiver Zach Pascal off of the Reserve/COVID-19 List. In corresponding moves to make room on the roster, the team also placed wide receivers T.Y. Hilton and Dezmon Patmon as well as quarterback Sam Ehlinger on Injured Reserve.

Ehlinger (knee) suffered an ACL sprain in the Colts' preseason finale, which was also when Patmon (foot) got banged up. Hilton (neck) was injured on the final day of training camp practice last Wednesday. While on IR, they must now miss at least three games.

On Wednesday, Colts general manager Chris Ballard spoke to reporters and gave an update specifically on Hilton's status.

“Yeah, we are going to put him on IR," Ballard said. "He’ll just be on regular Injured Reserve. He’ll be back. The surgery went well. He’s got a ton of relief, he feels better. One thing I know about T.Y. Hilton, he’s a pretty quick healer and I think he will be back whenever he’s ready to go. But I think it’s always sooner than later with him.

“That’s about as detailed as I want to get," Ballard continued on Hilton's procedure. "It was not a major procedure. It was something to give him some relief. It wasn’t real intrusive, and he’s good. It was instant relief for him.”

After being considered close contacts to a staffer who tested positive for COVID-19 and placed on the reserve list on Monday, Wentz, Kelly, and Pascal had to be away from the team for five days from the time of contact.

For Wentz and Kelly particularly, who both missed a sizable chunk of training camp with injuries, returning to the practice field now before the Colts' regular-season opener on Sept. 12 is quite helpful in terms of their preparedness.

As for how the Colts plan to navigate the season against the NFL's rules on unvaccinated players, Ballard said they do have a plan to address it.

“We’re actually going to meet with team leadership to go through that, and I would suspect we would take some steps here to make sure that we’re all protected, not only in the building but away from the building," Ballard said.

"I’m almost more concerned about away from the building," he continued. "We have fans in the stands this year, we’re going to have families coming in – players’ families coming in. All of that creates more risk not only for unvaccinated players, but vaccinated players with the breakthrough cases. So that’s something we’re all going to have to deal with. So that’s something we’re going to deal with our leadership and work with our team through.”

The only player remaining on the Colts' COVID-19 list is left tackle Eric Fisher.

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