NFL Injury · Indianapolis Colts

Sauce Gardner and Tyler Warren are out against the Vikings

By IsHePlayingToday Staff · Updated Oct 24, 2026

No guessing on this one. While half the league spent its Friday hiding behind the word "questionable," the Colts just said it plain: Sauce Gardner and Tyler Warren will not play on Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings.

Head coach Shane Steichen made the call on Friday. Neither player practiced at any point this week, so the announcement surprised nobody who'd been watching the practice reports. A third Colt, wide receiver Anthony Gould, is out as well. Here's what each injury is, who steps in, and what it does to Sunday's game.

Gardner: a calf the Colts won't rush

Gardner hurt his calf during Sunday's loss to the Tennessee Titans. He left that game, the Colts turned to their backups, and he never got back on the practice field this week — not Wednesday, not Thursday, not Friday.

The word attached to him is "week-to-week." That's the team's own label, and it's worth hearing for what it is. Week-to-week is not a return date. It's the team saying the injury needs time and they will check it again next week, and the week after that if they have to. Calf injuries have a habit of hanging around, and they get worse when players come back before the calf is ready — one hard plant or one sprint can restart the whole clock.

So while nothing official rules Gardner out beyond Sunday, nobody should circle next week's game in pen either. The first real clue will be whether he gets back to any kind of practice work in the days after the Vikings game.

Warren: the second straight week out

Warren's story is shorter and just as frustrating for the Colts. He hurt his groin in practice last Friday. That cost him the Titans game on Sunday. This week went the same way: no practice Wednesday, no practice Thursday, no practice Friday, ruled out.

Groin injuries are feel injuries. A player can look fine standing still, fine jogging, fine in the weight room — and then feel it the first time he has to push off and run at full speed. Tight ends do that on every snap, as receivers and as blockers. Until Warren can get through a week of real practice without the groin barking at him, the Colts won't put him out there, and this week he couldn't get through any practice at all.

Two straight missed games also changes the question. It's no longer "can he play this week?" It's "what does he need to show before the team trusts this thing?" The answer is a full week of work, and that hasn't happened yet.

Who steps in on Sunday

At corner, we already saw the preview. When Gardner went down against Tennessee, Cam Taylor-Britt played outside corner in his place. Expect to see that again in Minnesota: Taylor-Britt on the outside, with the rest of the secondary sliding into bigger roles behind him. It's a clear step down from Gardner — most corners in football are a step down from Gardner — and the Vikings know it as well as anyone.

At tight end, there is no single next man. Without Warren last week, the Colts split the job by committee, with different players handling the blocking work and the pass-catching work instead of one tight end taking over the whole role. Plan on the same split on Sunday. That makes the Colts a little easier to read, too: when a blocking-first tight end is in, the run is more likely coming; when a pass-catching one is in, the defense can lean that way.

And the list doesn't end with the two big names. Wide receiver Anthony Gould is also out with a concussion, which thins the receiver room and takes one more option off the field for the Colts' passing game. Three players out would be a normal Friday for some teams. When two of the three are your top corner and your starting tight end, it isn't normal at all.

What it means for the game, and for your lineup

Start with the simple part: Minnesota's passing game just got a friendlier matchup. A secondary missing its best corner tends to give up more down the field, and the Vikings have all week to draw up plays aimed at Gardner's side of the field. If you were deciding between a Vikings receiver and a similar option somewhere else, this news is your tiebreaker.

On the Colts' side, the tight end spots lose their easy answer. Warren was the one Colts tight end you could count on for steady work. With the job split by committee, no single replacement picks up all of that — the targets and the snaps get spread around, and spread-out work is hard to trust in a fantasy lineup. If you had been counting on Warren, you already know he's out, and the Colts don't offer a clean one-for-one swap.

For the game itself, the Colts head into Minnesota short on both sides of the ball: down a top corner on defense, down a starting tight end and a receiver on offense. Teams win games like this sometimes, usually by running the ball, shortening the game, and keeping the other offense on the sideline. That's a hard way to live for four quarters, but it's the hand the Colts have been dealt this week.

The verdict

This one is final — no Sunday update is coming to change it. Gardner and Warren are out, Gould is out, and the Colts will try to win in Minnesota with a patched secondary and a committee at tight end. The only live questions now point at next week: whether Gardner's week-to-week calf lets him back at practice, and whether Warren's groin finally lets him through a full week of work. Check the Wednesday practice report. That's where both answers start.