WESTFIELD, Ind. -- Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck will play in the team's preseason opener at Seattle on Aug. 9, coach Frank Reich said Wednesday.
The Colts want Luck to play in the preseason to help him find his rhythm again after he missed last season with a right shoulder injury. He hasn't played in a game since Week 17 of the 2016 season.
"What we have determined is that I don't feel we have to overreact and say he has to play a ton more," Reich said. "He has logged a lot of game reps in his career, so we still want to be smart. He still has to get reps in preseason games, but we're not going to go over the top and try to get double the amount of reps."
Luck will practice fully Thursday and Friday before taking Saturday off and then practicing again on Sunday when the team is in full pads. The Colts want to mimic the regular-season practice schedule as much as possible with Luck's return.
"I'm not kidding myself that there's many, many steps to go," Luck said. "This is one of them. We have a lot of work to do. I have a lot of work to do. That to me is exciting. It's not intimidating. I'm nervous. It'll be interesting to step on the field again and practice."
Luck had surgery on his right shoulder in January 2017 after playing through pain in the shoulder during the entire 2016 season. He missed the team's offseason workouts, all of training camp and eventually the entire 2017 season after experiencing soreness that couldn't be remedied by a cortisone shot once he started practicing in the middle of October. Luck also spent about six weeks in the Netherlands rehabbing his shoulder in late 2017.
He originally injured his shoulder in Week 3 of the 2015 season.
"As I've learned through this, I think mentally it's hard on guys," Luck said. "I don't think I respected how hard it was going to be. I think in the past I don't think I handled it in the way where I would have admitted I was struggling to a certain point."
Former coach Chuck Pagano and owner Jim Irsay often said in the past that Luck has to do a better job of protecting himself to avoid getting injured. Luck's competitiveness has previously gotten the best him because he often believed that he could hold the ball a second longer to make a throw or run over a defender. That mindset has to change if Luck expects to be able to have the long career that Irsay envisions.
"I think I would be a fool if I didn't [alter the way I played]," Luck said. "If I do sort of a self-scout over, say, the past first part of my career, there are hits I could have avoided. There are times when the ball could have been thrown away. Another decision made that would have spared me a hit here or there. Do I regret not doing that? No. Will I learn from that? Absolutely. I'll have to understand how to be smart. I just have to do it."
The Colts have struggled mightily with back-to-back 8-8 seasons in 2015 and 2016 and a 4-12 campaign last season. The Colts, to no surprise, missed the playoffs in all three of those seasons after making the playoffs in each of Luck's first three seasons.
"Andrew's focus is so focused right now on having the best season he possibly can," left tackle Anthony Castonzo said. "He's definitely ready to go mentally."