The Colts are reportedly placing tight end Jelani Woods on injured reserve and not designating him to return, according to The Atheltic’s James Boyd. This will effectively end his season before it can even begin.
Woods recently underwent toe surgery that will reportedly keep him sidelined for roughly four months. Although he will be sidelined for much of the year, there was the potential for him to return under the new IR rules if the Colts wanted to use one of their two return designations on him.
However, it’s been reported by Joel Erickson of the Indy Star, that those designations for the Colts will instead be used on Samson Ebukam and Cameron McGrone.
Under NFL rules, players who are placed on IR (without the new return designation) before first being on the 53-man roster cannot return at any point in the season with that team.
This unfortunate news comes on the heels of Woods missing the entire 2023 season with hamstring injuries. He has now not played in a regular season game since 2022.
With an elite combination of size and speed at the tight end position, there was always the potential for Woods to be a threat in the passing game, particularly over the middle in Shane Steichen’s RPO heavy offense.
However, even before the injury, Woods’ status on the 53-man roster was up in the air after an inconstant training camp performance prior to suffering a toe injury in the second preseason game against Arizona.
The 2025 season will be the final year of Woods’ rookie deal with the Colts.