INDIANAPOLIS -- Indianapolis Colts rookie guard Jack Mewhort is eager to play in a game, but his health is in question.

Mewhort, who earlier this week said missing more than a week of practice was just a precaution with his right knee, did not practice again Thursday.

“You want those guys out there 100 percent,” Colts coach Chuck Pagano said. “You want them to get the reps they need.”

It’s not uncommon for Pagano to hold veteran players out of practice so that they can rest . But with veteran players you already know what you’re going to get out of them.

Mewhort, who had surgery on his knee after minicamp in June, is a rookie who is making the transition from playing tackle his senior year at Ohio State to guard in the NFL. He wasn’t expected to be the front-runner to start this season, but Donald Thomas' season-ending torn quad thrust him into that position.

“A rookie, you don’t want him to have anything more holding him back, which already lack of experience is always going to be a hurdle to overcome for a young guy,” general manager Ryan Grigson said earlier this week. “... We want him back to where we see the same guy that we saw in OTAs and minicamp playing with the base, playing with that confidence because you’re talking about a guy that’s played a ton of snaps at a bunch of different positions that’s never had anything. So he’s going through that in his mind. That in itself takes some time to get over, and he’s going in the right direction.”

Pagano did not say if Mewhort will play in Saturday’s preseason game against the New Orleans Saints. Lance Louis will likely start at guard if Mewhort doesn’t play.

“You can’t play in this league when you’re only 50 percent,” Grigson said. “We need him to be as good as he possibly can because we've got a long season ahead of us.”