Colts safety Bob Sanders, the 2007 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, could be starting the 2009 regular season on the Physically Unable to Perform list.
Sanders opened camp on the “active” version of the PUP list, which requires the team to use a roster spot for him but which allows him to exit the PUP list at any time. As explained by Mike Chappell of the Indianapolis Star, if Sanders isn’t sufficiently healthy to emerge from the PUP list before Week One, he’ll be required to miss the first six weeks of the season, and he’ll thereafter have a three-week window within which to return.
Sanders underwent surgery on his right knee during the offseason. The sixth-year player is consulting with Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Alabama, and Sanders is continuing his rehab there.
“I don’t have any feeling one way or the other about where he will be,” Colts G.M. Bill Polian said Wednesday, per the Star.
After the Colts signed the oft-injured Sanders to a big-money extension late in a 2007 season during which he missed only one game, Sanders addressed the concerns regarding his ability to stay healthy.
“It was just about being a player, being competitive,’' Sanders said. “I wanted to show everyone I could stay healthy. There were a lot of questions about whether I could stay healthy and I wanted to prove to everyone and myself that I could stay healthy, be consistent and play well.’'
Last season, the 5'8", 206 pounder played in only six regular-season games. During his rookie year, he likewise appeared in only six regular-season games. In 2006, he played in only four.
That said, Sanders got healthy at the right time, returning for a postseason run that resulted in a championship, thanks in large part to his ability to help shut down the opponents’ rushing attack.