Colts Daily Notebook: Jabaal Sheard Returns For ‘Modified Practice’ Day

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INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Colts dialed things down a little bit on Wednesday.


After holding three practices last week in 90-plus-degree temperatures, and then taking on the Tennessee Titans on Sunday in Nashville, where temperatures soared into the mid- to upper-90s on the field, head coach Frank Reich thought it was important to let his players recharge their batteries a little bit heading into this Sunday’s 2019 home opener against the Atlanta Falcons.


So the team today held what Reich considers a “modified practice,” which is essentially an “up-tempo walkthrough” where the players actually got in more work than they would during a normal Wednesday session.


“Normally in a Wednesday practice you get 40-ish reps,” Reich said. “A day like today we’ll get 60-ish reps.


“I just think it’ll be a good chance for the players to mentally get what we need, to really see and feel what we plan.”


Reich and the Colts utilized these “modified practices” in the final month of the regular season last year, as well as in the weeks leading up to their two playoff contests. Another advantage, Reich said, is that a player who “injury-wise maybe couldn’t go full speed” for a normal Wednesday practice can take part in a modified workout.


“He can do this,” Reich said. “Get more work out of it.”


That could very well be the case for a guy like Jabaal Sheard, who was seen Wednesday taking part in his first team on-field work since the very first day of training camp practices on July 25 — a span of almost eight weeks.


The veteran defensive end experienced some “soreness and swelling” in his knee after that first day of camp practice, and eventually underwent a minor surgical procedure. The Colts decided against placing Sheard on injured reserve to open the regular season, which would’ve resulted in him missing at least the first eight weeks; he has since missed the Colts’ first two regular season games against the Los Angeles Chargers and Titans.


Sheard was listed as a limited participant Wednesday, though participation was an estimation for if team had held an actual practice.