[panxing18]

Malik Hooker looks around the Indianapolis Colts' newly renovated locker room and reflects on his long journey back to football.

He smiles Tyquan Lewis Jersey , he laughs nervously and, naturally, he's a little anxious to test his surgically repaired right knee.

The Colts' starting safety has never faced such a severe injury or such a complex recovery, and the next step is seeing how it holds up in game conditions.

"I'll definitely be out there Saturday," Hooker said. "Of course everybody has questions about 'what if I'm not the player I need to be when I get back' and stuff like that. But that's where you've just got to be mentally tough and say that's part of the plan to get back out there. I have no doubts."

Neither do the Colts.

They've waited patiently and proceeded cautiously as their 2017 first-round pick works his way back, fully anticipating him to continue being the playmaker he flashed in the first seven weeks last season.

General manager Chris Ballard considered Hooker, at 6-foot-1, 212 pounds, a perfect fit in his young secondary.

He started all 13 games of his senior season at Ohio State; picked off seven passes; led the Football Bowl Subdivision by returning three for scores; helped the Buckeyes reach the College Football Playoff; and was selected a first-team All-American in 2016.

And though he couldn't work out at the NFL's annual scouting combine because of hip and sports hernia surgeries, many regarded him as the top safety in the draft. Ballard had Hooker rated as the best athlete in the draft and when he slid to No. 15, Ballard wasted no time in making his selection.

"He's got a unique skill set. He's got size. He's got speed. He's got great instincts and ball skills," Ballard said of Hooker on draft night. "Guys that can take away the football are hard to find, and we think he can do that at this level."

Hooker certainly lived up to the billing early last season.

He moved into the starting lineup in Week 2, picked off passes in each of his first three starts and appeared headed toward a huge rookie season 鈥?until a blindside block forced his knee to buckle as he was chasing Jacksonville receiver Allen Hurns down the sideline Oct. 22.

Later that night, Hooker was diagnosed with torn anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments Corey Linsley Jersey , ending a promising rookie season. He spent the next seven months rehabbing, returned for on-the-field individual work in May, and opened training camp on the physically unable to perform list. Now, three weeks after being activated, Hooker has been cleared for game duty and is expected to start against San Francisco.

"It's been a long time coming," he said. "For me to finally get out there and get cleared to be able to go out there and play on Saturday, it's a great feeling."

Indy's coaches are excited for another reason: Saturday marks the first time they'll see their two projected starting safeties in a game. Hooker's injury, coupled with Clayton Geathers' inability to return from neck surgery until late last season, meant the projected pairing never had a chance to work together.

But as both recovered from knee surgeries during the offseason, they worked together, challenged one another and raced to come back. Geathers got there first, making his preseason debut in Monday night's loss to Baltimore.

Now, Hookier finally is about to join him.

"They have what we talked about, the instincts and the strike and the speed and all those things, and the quickness Wholesale Damien Wilson Jersey Authentic Elite Limited - Nike Dallas Cowboys Official NFL Football Shop ," new defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus said. "And those guys, as they get playing with the system and with other guys in the unit, we should see them blossom. We should see them really take off and see them make really impactful plays that will change the game for our team."

Hooker believes he will be as good as new, and working in unison with Geathers will make the Colts a better defense. All he wants to do now is prove he's back.

"I feel like this organization knows what I bring to the table and I know what their standard is for me to bring to the table," Hooker said. "So I'm just going to go out there and continue to do whatever I can to help this team win."

NOTES: The Colts signed free agent defensive tackle Brandon Banks and placed receiver Matt Hazel on the waived-injured list. If Hazel clears waivers, he will go on injured reserve.

Less than two weeks after lifting the Stanley Cup, Barry Trotz is a free agent and the Washington Capitals are looking for a new coach.

Trotz stepped down as Capitals coach on Monday after a contract dispute over salary and term that leaves the newly minted Stanley Cup champions without a coach with the draft and free agency fast approaching. General manager Brian MacLellan said the Capitals accepted Trotz’s resignation after they were unable to agree on terms on a new contract.

Winning the Cup less than two weeks ago triggered a two-year extension for Trotz that would have given him a slight bump in salary to just over $2 million, a person with direct knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the team did not announce the extension.

”His representative wants to take advantage of Barry’s experience and Stanley Cup win and was trying to negotiate a deal that compensates him as one of the better coaches in the league, top four or five coaches,” MacLellan said at a news conference in Arlington, Virginia. ”I think the five-year term is probably a sticking point. You have a coach that’s been here four years, you do another five, that’s nine years. There’s not many coaches that have that lasting ability. It’s a long time and it’s a lot of money to be committing to a coach.”

Toronto’s Mike Babcock makes the most at $6.25 million on an eight-year deal after coaching Detroit for 10 seasons, Chicago’s Joel Quenneville is next at $6 million entering his ninth full season with the Blackhawks and Montreal’s Claude Julien brings in $5 million after coaching Boston for nine-plus seasons. All three have won the Cup like Trotz, including Quenneville three times.

If Trotz was paid among the top five Charles Mann Jersey , it would have put him in the $4 million-plus range annually – a price the Capitals have not been willing to pay for coaches.

”After careful consideration and consultation with my family, I am officially announcing my resignation,” Trotz said. ”When I came to Washington four years ago we had one goal in mind and that was to bring the Stanley Cup to the nation’s capital. We had an incredible run this season culminating with our players and staff achieving our goal and sharing the excitement with our fans.”

The 55-year-old Trotz went into the season with an uncertain future after ownership and MacLellan declined to talk about a contract extension last summer after back-to-back Presidents’ Trophy-winning seasons that ended with second-round exits.

”We were struggling at the time to get over the hump,” MacLellan said. ”We couldn’t get out of the second round and Barry hadn’t been able to coach out of the second round yet either. I think from the organization’s perspective, some changes would’ve had to be made if we lost in the second round again.”

That didn’t happen as a relaxed Trotz played a vital role in Washington’s first title in franchise history. He survived a rough start to the season and other struggles before he and the team found a stride in the playoffs.

As part of the uneasy arrangement, associate coach Todd Reirden – who was not allowed to interview with other teams last summer – remained on staff and was considered the coach-in-waiting. Reirden is now the leading candidate to take over for the defending champions, though MacLellan wants to go through an interview process with the former Pittsburgh assistant first.

”Todd’s a good candidate for it,” MacLellan said. ”We’re going to start with Todd here, and we’ve been grooming him to be a head coach whether for us or for someone else. We’ll see how the talk goes with him and then we’ll make a decision based on that. If it goes well, then we’ll pursue Todd, and if it doesn’t, we’ll open it up a little bit.”

After the Capitals accepted his resignation, Trotz will be an intriguing figure on the coaching market.

Only the New York Islanders have a current coaching vacancy, though given Trotz’s success in Nashville and Washington, other teams might consider making a move to hire him. Trotz has the fifth-most victories in NHL history and has guided a team to the playoffs in 11 of his 19 seasons. He is 762-568-60-134 overall with the Predators and Capitals Lane Taylor Jersey , and he won 205 of his 328 regular-season games (63 percent) since taking over as Washington’s coach in 2014.

Trotz had his fingerprints all over this championship, pushing all the right buttons by putting goaltender Braden Holtby back in net early in the first round and making the correct lineup decisions throughout the playoffs. He was also a popular coach with his players, helping playoff hero Devante Smith-Pelly and others find their stride.

”He changed this team with family mentality,” top-line winger Tom Wilson said last week. ”He did a really good job of creating that team atmosphere. You look three or four years back, there was a lot of skill on this team, but there wasn’t really that team mentality and you can never take that away from what that did for this locker room.”

Despite his contract situation, Trotz appeared relaxed throughout the postseason, even as Washington vanquished playoff nemesis Pittsburgh. After the Capitals trailed in all four series and came back to win the Stanley Cup, Trotz told fans at the victory parade last week: ”We’re going to do it again!”

Instead, Trotz is looking at the next stop in his career and the Capitals are looking for a new coach.

—

San Francisco 49ers Customized Jerseys