Stephen Holder

stephen.holder@indystar.com

INDIANAPOLIS – In the NFL, “offseason” is merely a relative term.

Here we are, a full five months before opening day, and already the Indianapolis Colts are getting back to work.

Offseason conditioning workouts get underway Monday at Colts headquarters. Participation is voluntary, but expect them to be well attended. This isn’t the time to cut corners. Not with so much at stake.

The Colts are trying to rebound from back-to-back 8-8 seasons. They have a new general manager who has broken out his shears and trimmed significant fat from the roster. Everyone is on notice that no spot on the roster is assured.

MORE COLTS:

Insider: For Colts and Johnathan Hankins, the wait was worth it

Insider: Here's why the Colts are saying 'no' to Richard Sherman

So, yeah, there’s a lot going on with this team. The coach is on the hot seat. The quarterback is coming off surgery. There are roughly 700 new players on defense (give or take). So much to do, so little time.

Here are the Colts’ five biggest objectives as they begin two months of offseason work.

>> Figure out the offensive line

No one expects the Colts to come out of veteran minicamp in June with a locked-in offensive line lineup. But they’d better be well closer to having a final combination.

While they do need to let training camp and the preseason ultimately decide the starting five, it would be helpful if the Colts could use their offseason evaluation to make their best guess at the most effective lineup and let those guys work together throughout the offseason.

The coaching staff has watched enough tape and seen enough practices to have an idea of who best fits where. What the Colts don’t need is a repeat of their 2015 fiasco, when they locked into the wrong combination during offseason workouts – one that featured Todd Herremans at right guard and Jack Mewhort at right tackle – only to blow up the whole thing in Week 3.

>> Establish new leaders

The locker room will look quite different, especially on defense. Gone are stalwarts Robert Mathis, D’Qwell Jackson and Mike Adams. They were key leaders and mentors to younger players and had important, influential voices. With the locker room getting even younger the past few weeks, new leaders will have to emerge.

This is the time of year where those leadership qualities begin to show and a hierarchy begins to form. Jabaal Sheard, for example, needs to make use of the next few weeks and establish himself as a leader. Johnathan Hankins is just 25, but his hefty contract and status as an accomplished player in New York likely means he will need to assume something of a leadership role, too.

Leadership is a word that gets thrown around without much meaning in football. But it’s more important than some realize. And given their recent changes, the Colts need players willing to fill the void.

>> Contract decisions

The Colts have a trio of key players coming up on the final year of their contracts. Will those deals be extended before the 2017 season?

That’s a question the Colts need to be asking internally about cornerback Vontae Davis, guard Jack Mewhort and receiver Donte Moncrief.

You can make a compelling case for or against doing early re-signings on each of them. But they all seem like keepers, so it’s possible the Colts could negotiate friendlier deals now rather than when these guys are close to hitting the free agent market.

The Colts don’t typically negotiate contracts during the season, so if that’s going to happen, it’ll likely happen this offseason.

>> Identify defensive roles

With so many comings and goings on defense, the Colts have a lot of work to do when it comes to assigning roles to specific players. Take Sheard, for instance. He’s got the ability to play either outside linebacker spot and, in some instances, line up in a three-point stance inside. John Simon is another guy they’ll perhaps want to find creative ways to use.

Within a few weeks, players will transition from pure conditioning work to actual on-field work with coaches. Soon after, they’ll begin organized team activities and legitimate practices. Meetings get underway immediately, and quite a bit of ground will be covered there. Many of the packages the Colts will deploy this fall will be installed now and reinforced in training camp. So, do not underestimate the importance of the next few weeks.

>> Establish a timeline for Luck

The health of the starting quarterback is not something where corners should be cut, and the Colts aren’t about to do that with Andrew Luck.

But with the franchise quarterback coming off shoulder surgery, the Colts hope to be closer to knowing his return date by the end of their offseason activities.

At this point, it’s assumed Luck won’t participate in on-field work during the spring and summer. The Colts continue to be non-committal on a timeline for his return, be it the start of training camp or later.

Already, General Manager Chris Ballard has said he expects to add a fourth quarterback to the roster, thereby reducing the workload on Luck when he does return. Now, we just need to know when that return will actually happen.

Follow IndyStar reporter Stephen Holder on Twitter: @HolderStephen.