The Indianapolis Colts are placing linebacker Jaylon Carlies on injured reserve and designating him to return, according to the Indy Star’s Joel Erickson.
Under the recently changed injured reserve rules, during roster cutdowns, teams can place up to two players on IR and designate them to return. The benefit of this is that teams don’t have to first place that player on the 53-man roster–taking up a spot–and then move them to IR.
If a player is placed on IR prior to final rosters being set and isn’t designated to return, their 2025 season is over.
On IR, Carlies must miss the first four games, but Erickson added that the expectation is that this will be a minimum IR stint for him.
Carlies would miss the on-field portion of OTAs and minicamp after undergoing shoulder surgery during the offseason.
He briefly took the field during training camp, but has missed most of the summer practices with an ankle injury.
The assumption this offseason was that Carlies would start next to Zaire Franklin, and perhaps that ends up being the case as the season progresses. But in Carlies’ absence, Joe Bachie took advantage of those opportunities and is the likely front-runner right now for that playing time.
With that said, as Lou Anarumo described recently, he does like to rotate at linebacker depending on what the matchup and in-game situations call for, so we may see a few different players alongside Franklin this season.
(Please note that this article will be updated.)
This article originally appeared on Colts Wire: Colts place LB on injured reserve designated to return during roster cutdowns
Reporting by Paul Bretl, Colts Wire / Colts Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
