Ahead of the Colts’ Week 1 matchup with the Houston Texans, wide receiver Josh Downs will not be practicing on Wednesday, according to head coach Shane Steichen.
Steichen would add that Downs is “progressing well,” but his status for Sunday’s game is still undecided.
Downs would sustain a high ankle sprain on August 7th during practice where he was tackled by safety Nick Cross.
At that time, Ian Rapoport reported that Downs could be sidelined for 4-6 weeks, which puts his return anywhere between Week 1 and Week 3 of the regular season–although the Colts have not put a timetable on when Downs could return.
Before the injury, Downs was putting together an impressive training camp where he was emerging as a go-to target of Anthony Richardson’s with the two having developed a strong rapport.
We often hear about the Year 2 leap for NFL players and Downs appears poised to make that jump.
Downs is coming off an impressive rookie season in which he totaled 771 receiving yards with two touchdowns. Among all receivers, he ranked seventh in yards from the slot, had the second-most receiving yards on the team, along with forcing the most missed tackles and having the highest average YAC.
If Downs is not available for Week 1, in his absence during training camp and the preseason, we saw AD Mitchell taking the bulk of the slot snaps. Fellow rookie Anthony Gould could see some opportunities as well.
