Indianapolis Colts CB Charvarius Ward Sr. discussed the back injury he's currently dealing with. (Video via Jake Arthur/ColtsRoundtable)
The Indianapolis Colts are hoping for good injury fortune to go their way, for once.
One player whom they're rolling the dice on is cornerback Charvarius Ward Sr. They signed him to a three-year, $54 million deal last offseason, but repeated concussions limited him to just seven games.
After contemplating retirement, Ward rededicated himself to football in the offseason after proving to himself physically that he could still train how he wanted to.
However, with the hope that Ward can get through 17 games this year, it'll have to be in spite of a back issue that he says he'll have to deal with throughout the season.
Ward missed the final five practices of training camp with the injury, including the three joint practices against the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons .
"Yeah. I mean, we did some things for it. Flew somewhere to get some work done to it, and we've just been maintaining and rehabbing it every day, trying to attack it hard and just get ready for the season, Week 1," Ward said.
"It's going to be something I've got to deal with, something I've got to maintain, something I've got to manage," he continued. "Definitely not going to be fixed overnight or over the next couple weeks. I've just got to maintain it throughout the entire season."
Ward returned to practice this week and said he expects to be ready for Week 1, but he also indicated that the injury may be a wait-and-see situation at times this season.
"Yeah, I feel good to be back out there for the first time in like two and a half, three weeks," Ward said. "Didn't really feel any pain yesterday, so it's kind of good to get back into the groove of things. Today, I should get some real reps, some competition. So, we'll see how I feel today."
As for what maintaining Ward's back issue will look like, he said, "It's really just how it reacts throughout the week. Like, if I do something, I hurt it in a game or in practice, I'll probably just sit down a bit until Sunday. So the main goal is just to be ready on Sundays. I expect I'll be ready, though, for sure."
With Ward out of the lineup during practice, the Colts moved slot corner Justin Walley into Ward's spot on the boundary opposite Sauce Gardner, with Cam Taylor-Britt taking Walley's spot in the slot. If Ward is forced to miss any time during the season, that may continue to be the Colts' approach.
When Ward is on the field, the Colts hope that it gives coordinator Lou Anarumo a full arsenal between Ward, Gardner, and Walley at corner to play man coverage and to be as exotic and confusing to offenses as possible up front in the box, sending a variety of blitz packages their way.
The Colts host the Baltimore Ravens at Lucas Oil Stadium in Week 1 on Sun., Sept. 13.
