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Offseason neck surgery sidelines Colts safety Clayton Geathers

INDIANAPOLIS -- Colts safety Clayton Geathers is not taking part in the team's voluntary offseason workouts following neck surgery earlier this year.

Geathers, who is projected to start next season, originally injured his neck on a fourth-down stop to seal the Colts' victory over the Tennessee Titans in Week 11 last season. He missed the team's Thanksgiving night game against the Pittsburgh Steelers due to a concussion before eventually being placed on injured reserve on Dec. 12 with the neck injury.

The team gave an update on Geathers' health status on Colts.com on Tuesday, which ended weeks of silence surrounding the third-year player. Media requests to speak to Geathers were declined on a regular basis since the Colts reported for workouts the week of April 17. The majority of the team's core players, including injured quarterback Andrew Luck, have been made available to the media during that time span.

The team did not give a timeline on when Geathers, who has 93 tackles in two seasons, will return to the field.

"Clayton has been at our facility every day during the offseason program rehabbing with our training staff," coach Chuck Pagano said via the team's website. "We have a plan for his recovery and look forward to him fully healing and returning to the field."

The Colts selected Ohio State safety Malik Hooker in the first round of this year's draft. They also have second-year player T.J. Green at safety and they moved Darius Butler from cornerback to safety this offseason.