Following Friday’s practice, Indianapolis Colts’ head coach Shane Steichen sounded optimistic about cornerback JuJu Brents returning for the team’s Week 18 matchup against the Jaguars.
“That’s the hope,” said Steichen when asked about Brents’ status. “It’s looking that way.”
Brents was designated to return to practice from injured reserve prior to the Colts’ Week 16 matchup with Tennessee. He practiced all three days that week as a limited participant.
A week ago, as the Colts prepared for the New York Giants, Brents again practiced all three days, but that time as a full participant. However, while initially listed as questionable for that game, he was ruled out the day before and remained on injured reserve.
This week, Brents again was a full participant all three days of practice. That’s now nine straight days of practice, including six consecutive days as a full participant.
Brents suffered the knee injury that landed him on IR in the Colts’ Week 1 loss to Houston. Unfortunately, injuries have been a part of his first two seasons. During that span, Brents has played in only 10 games and also missed time during various OTA and training camp sessions.
At this point, as a still inexperienced player, any sort of live reps that Brents can get, even if only in Week 18, is valuable for him.
“Even though we don’t got the hopes of the playoffs right now, it’d still be good for me to go back out there,” said Brents on Friday.
The big question, however, will be where that playing time comes from? The emergence of Sam Womack and the development of Jaylon Jones has provided some stability to the cornerback position.
That, coupled with this being Brents first game back from injury, leads me to believe that his role–if available–will be fairly small where he’s utilized in specific situations to ease him back in.
For his career, Brents has allowed a completion rate of 67% on 55 targets at 14.6 yards per catch with five pass breakups and an interception.
If Brents is going to play, the Colts will have to activate him and add him back to the 53-man roster–a move that would be made on Saturday. In order to make room for Brents on the active roster, a corresponding cut will have to be made to make room for him.
(This article was updated to provided additional information.)