Pat Lovell-USA TODAY Sports
Indianapolis, IN- It just keeps getting worse and worse for the Indianapolis Colts on the injury front. They lost starting running back Vick Ballard last Thursday due to a ACL injury suffered in practice. On Sunday in the game against the Miami Dolphins starting guard Donald Thomas was lost for the year due to a quad injury.
The latest injury made matters even worse as starting tight end Dwayne Allen is lost for the year due to needing season ending hip surgery. The second year tight end out of Clemson was injured early on in Week 1 against the Oakland Raiders. He didn’t return to the game and now will require season ending hip surgery.
The loss of Allen is a big blow to this team. At least Ballard is replaceable with veterans in Ahmad Bradshaw and Donald Brown. Thomas can be replaced as well, but Allen cannot.
The Colts were already lacking in depth at tight end with only having Allen, fellow class member Coby Fleener, Dominique Jones and rookie Justice Cunningham. The rookie has yet to really find the field, Jones filled is nicely Sunday but he’s no Allen, and Fleener has struggled with dropping balls.
Indianapolis was hoping to mimic some of the best offenses in the NFL by having two solid tight end receiving threats. Allen had 541 yards and four touchdowns on 46 receptions in 2012. That productivity was supposed to grow in 2013 as he already had a touchdown on his first reception.
Now, that is all lost and the Colts will have a very tough time replacing him.
