WESTFIELD, Ind. (AP) — Indianapolis Colts backup running back Salvon Ahmed was carted off the field near the end of Sunday’s practice with what described as a severe injury to his right leg.
Ahmed screamed when he was dragged down in the end zone by Trey Washington’s hip-drop tackle, bringing an immediate hush to a near-capacity training camp crowd. Players dropped to one knee as trainers worked to immobilize Ahmed’s lower leg.
The Colts then gathered around Ahmed as he was placed onto a stretcher.
“Never want to see that happen,” Steichen said. “We don’t encourage hip-drop tackles. I know Trey is down in the dumps. I don’t think he’s trying to do that. We’re just trying to create that edge, especially in the developmental (guys) — those guys are going to have to tackle come preseason. So thoughts and prayers go out to Salvon. Hopefully he has a speedy recovery.”
Ahmed went undrafted in 2020 out of , but was claimed off waivers by the Miami Dolphins in late August and started the season on Miami’s practice squad.
with 163 carries, 593 yards and five TDs from 2020-23 while catching 40 passes for 274 yards and another score.
Ahmed was cut by Miami during last year’s training camp and wound up on Denver’s practice squad. Indy added him to its practice squad in mid-October and he spent the rest of the season with the Colts and was re-signed to a reserve-futures contract in January.
Following the injury, Indy briefly stopped practice to huddle on the field before deciding to finish its final practice of the day.
“I knew him back when he was at UW when I was training in Seattle,” starting linebacker Zaire Franklin said. “It’s a tough situation. He’s competing for a job. He’s out here trying to compete and trying to get better. We’re warriors on the field, we understand what the possibilities are when we step on the field. Obviously, we’re a team so we’re not trying to hurt each other. Definitely, tough.”
Franklin, a four-time team captain, was participating in his second training camp practice after missing most of the first two weeks recovering from offseason ankle surgery.
He finished last season with a league-high 173 tackles.
Staying away wasn’t easy for the former Syracuse star, either.
“I can’t lie, I almost shed a tear yesterday because I’ve never missed that much time before,” Franklin said. “I got back there today and introduced myself to Introduced myself to a couple of other guys that I needed to introduce myself to. I’m just glad to be out there.”
And disappointed Ahmed probably won’t be back on the field for some time — even though he was one of the players who thought the Colts needed to finish practice.
“Some things are part of the game and as sad as that stuff — we all hurt, we all love Salvon,” Franklin said. “So like, obviously, we are feeling that emotionally, but at the end of the day, we’ve got to win. We’ve got to compete. We’ve got to keep going.”
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