Colts News Roundup

May 22, 2013; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Indianapolis Colts linebacker Bjoern Werner (92) goes through drills during organized team activities at the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

The Colts have had a busy week. Wednesday, the rookies were able to report to training camp in Anderson, Ind. Friday, the veterans will start arriving.

This week has also had a few other notable events.

Head Coach Chuck Pagano Addresses Suspensions

Wide receiver LaVon Brazill will miss the first four games of the season for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. Tight end Weslye Saunders is out eight games for use of performance enhancing drugs. Safety Joe Lefeged is facing gun-related charges in Washington DC.

Every coaching staff in the NFL warns its players about staying out of trouble, but its hard to babysit them all. Pagano didn’t indicate whether the Colts would take further action against any of these players.

“Obviously you’re extremely disappointed as a coach and a staff and an organization,” Pagano said. “The (players) are equally or more disappointed because we talk all the time about representing (the Colts’ horseshoe), this organization, this city, your family, your name on the back of your jersey.” (via The Indianapolis Star.)

It seems unlikely that the team would outright cut any of these players before, or even early into, camp. We recently talked about these players and what the team should do just last week.

First Round Pick Signed

The Colts finally signed first round pick Bjoern Werner earlier today. His deal is reportedly worth $7,896,398, the majority of which is guaranteed.

Right now, it appears that Werner is competing for the depth spot at outside linebacker. He was backing up Robert Mathis and Erik Walden in offseason activities. When Colts switched out of their base 3-4 defense into a nickle package, he saw time at defensive end as a pass rusher.

Werner was the ACC Defensive Player of the Year. In his senior season at Florida State, Werner recorded 13 sacks and 18 tackles for loss. Werner played more as an in-line defensive end at FSU, but was also effective rushing the quarterback from a standing position.

Players Start Out Camp on the PUP List

Two new Colts won’t be able to start training camp right away. Running back Ahmad Bradshaw will start the season on the physically unable to perform list as he recovers from foot surgery performed in January. Sixth-round pick safety John Boyett will be on the non-football injury list as rehabs from surgery on both knees.

Bradshaw was going to push for the starting running back spot, and he still could. We said that he’d be an effective player as long as he stayed healthy. He had surgery over six months ago for a foot injury. This is an injury that he has dealt with for much of his career. Its complicated, so I’ll let Will Carroll explain it.

Based on what Carroll explained, he should be more than ready to go by now. This seems like a surprise, but Bradshaw assured fans that he would be just fine. Pagano said the team would be cautious with the injury, so we might not see much of Bradshaw in the preseason (Edgerrin James rarely played in the preseason and was just fine).

The PUP and NFI lists are essentially the same thing. The NFI list is simply players who were injured outside of the NFL. Boyett needed surgery to repair torn patellar tendons in both knees (ouch), injuries he suffered while at Oregon.

We have less information on Boyett’s recovery. He only played in one game his senior season, so it has been awhile since his surgery. This is, however, a difficult injury to recover from. This could also lead to him not seeing time on the field at all this year. Last season, defensive tackle Josh Chapman started the season on the NFI list as well. Chapman never saw time in a game, but many believe that he will a solid contributor on defense.

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