Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz has been medically cleared and will start against the Colts on Sunday, the club announced today.
Wentz is roughly nine months removed from tearing his ACL, so it’s no surprise Philadelphia used a cautious approach with its franchise signal-caller. While he’d been cleared for 11-on-11 drills, Wentz hadn’t been cleared for full contact until today. Eagles head coach Doug Pederson has previously indicated Wentz will need a week of full contact practice before he’ll be re-inserted as the club’s starter.
The Eagles had the luxury of deploying Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles during their first two games and managed to post a 1-1 record. Foles wasn’t very effective during Philadelphia’s Week 1 win over the Falcons, as he completed just 56% of his passes for 117 yards and one interceptions. He performed much better against the Buccaneers on Sunday (73% completion rate, 334 yards, one touchdown), but the Eagles still lost 27-21.
Wentz, of course, was playing at an MVP pace before going down last December. In 13 starts, Wentz posted 3,296 passing yards, 33 touchdowns, and just seven interceptions and was named second-team All-Pro despite missing three games. Among the 26 quarterbacks with at least 350 attempts in 2017, Wentz ranked second in ESPN’s Total Quarterback Rating, fourth in passer rating, and fourth in adjusted yards per attempt.
Wentz won’t return with his full arsenal at hand, as wide receiver Alshon Jeffery is still recovering from shoulder surgery while Mike Wallace injured his ankle on Sunday. However, Jeffery is expected to practice on a limited basis this week, tweets Josina Anderson of ESPN.com, so he could return to game action in the near future. And Wallace will not be placed on injured reserve after fracturing his fibula, Pederson said today, which means the Eagles may believe he could return later this year.
Yes!
Too soon. And it’s coming just as Peters got hurt last week and they’re thin a WR. Not a good time to come back.
They’ll probably run the ball a lot this week. Ajayi’s injury wasn’t serious and Clement played very well. And Alshon Jeffery should be back soon too. I was expecting the Eagles to go for Josh Gordon but I guess the Pats jumped on that. I seriously doubt Wentz has even 30 pass attempts this week and they’re going to make sure they protect him
The Eagles should be protecting Wentz for much longer. He’s no way near ready for game day football, one week after being cleared for practice contact.
The Redskins destroyed RGIII by playing him hurt. Looks like another NFC East team has to learn the hard way about protecting injured quarterback prodigies.
There are so many stats out there about how much better the Eagles are with Wentz in the game… Except you know they put the disclaimer *regular season* lol.