Wentz might not play again the rest of the 2018 season.
It’s been just over a year since Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz suffered an ACL tear that ended his 2017 season. Now he has a different, unrelated injury he’s battling through. The rest of the season is in doubt for Wentz after he suffered a stress fracture in his back.
Wentz has been playing through back soreness since October, but the fracture was only discovered this week.
What’s the latest on Wentz’s back injury?
Wentz was on the Weeks 7 and 8 injury reports with a back issue, but the diagnosis of the stress fracture came Tuesday, according to Eagles head coach Doug Pederson — after Wentz had already gone through a previous scan that was inconclusive.
“Here’s what I can confirm,” Pederson said Friday. “That he has a stress injury, that this thing has evolved over time, and it requires zero surgery to heal.”
Wentz will not play Sunday night game against the Los Angeles Rams. Although Pederson would not rule out Wentz on Friday, the Eagles changed the injury report on Saturday to list him as “out.”
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Wentz’s injury should heal with rest:
A recent CT scan on Carson Wentz’s back revealed a fractured vertebrae that, if allowed time to rest, would fully heal without further expected issues, sources tell ESPN. There will be a continued evaluation to determine if continuing to play this year will make injury worse.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 13, 2018
Pederson said that the injury could take up to three months to heal.
“And the fact that he doesn’t need surgery on this is the best news you could possibly have,” Pederson said.
Will Wentz play again in 2018?
The most likely option for Wentz is that he sits out the rest of the season — especially if the Eagles lose on Sunday night to the Rams, which would severely hurt their chances of making the playoffs.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport has already said that the chances of Wentz playing again this year largely rests on the outcome of their Week 15 game:
But the real question now, as far as I understand it, is: “Is Carson Wentz going to play again for the rest of the season?” Some of that might actually depend on the result from this weekend’s game. If the Eagles lose, there really is no point of bringing Wentz back from his back injury, which, by the way, actually he’s been dealing with since October. He’s been on the injury report, off the injury report. This has been something that’s kind of been reoccurring this season. If the Eagles do win, then maybe they hold out hold and say ‘Could [we] potentially bring Wentz back on some level?’
At the same time, the Eagles’ medical staff is currently facing questions about how they handled Wentz’s back, as well as other players’ injuries.
What’s next for the Eagles?
The Eagles can’t be eliminated this week and they also can’t clinch a playoff spot this week. The final wild card spot in the NFC is up for grabs, but the Eagles would have an uphill battle to claim it if they lost any of their next games. Philadelphia currently sits at 6-7 and could sneak into the playoffs with a three-game win streak. That’ll be tough to do with the Rams and the Texans still left to play (a banged-up Washington team is by far the Eagles’ easiest remaining game).
Once again, Philadelphia will be turning to Nick Foles to hopefully keep its postseason hopes alive. That could prove to be a dubious task for Foles— he didn’t play well filling in for Wentz at the end of the regular season last year or the start of the season this year. Foles did get hot in the postseason, though, leading to the Eagles’ first championship and Foles’ Super Bowl MVP award.
This season, Foles has a passer rating of just 78.9 on the season.