Carson Wentz Update: Eagles ‘wouldn’t be surprised if he’s ready for Week 3’

NFL insider Chris Mortensen shared a relatively encouraging update on the status of Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz during an ESPN appearance on Sunday morning. Jimmy Kempski of PhillyVoice has the transcript:

“There is much more optimism that prevails than pessimism. He hasn’t been ruled out for Week 2, (but) he hasn’t been cleared. I think that the organizational sources I’ve spoken with say they wouldn’t be surprised if he’s ready for Week 3. Now Wentz gave the Eagles’ aggressive defense a great scout team look, playing (the role of) Matt Ryan on the scout team. He got bumped around, he got stepped on. His GPS data is trending toward playing sooner than later. The key final piece of data is, can he protect himself? He has reached that threshold in being able to protect himself. So, sooner than later on Carson Wentz.”

I’d be a little surprised if Wentz plays in Week 2 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. If he wasn’t ready to play against the Falcons in Week 1, is he really going to be ready a mere 10 days later? I mean, maybe, I don’t know. But one would think the Eagles feel like they can beat that Ryan Fitzpatrick-led team with Nick Foles starting under center anyway.

Week 3 seems to make more sense to me. That’s the date Peter King originally threw out there in late August, and he probably heard something to make him say that. The Eagles might not necessarily need Wentz to beat the Colts ... but hey, who knows, maybe they will. And if he IS cleared by that point, he should absolutely be playing.

In any case, this reporting from Mortensen is more optimistic than what Ian Rapoport recently had to say about Wentz possibly being out until October.

The hope is that Wentz won’t have to miss any more time than he reasonably has to. We know Nick Foles is capable of filling in for him, yes, but we also know Foles has his limitations at times (see the Falcons game the other night).

And so the Wentz Watch continues.

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UPDATE: Mort also sent out this tweet on Sunday morning.

SECOND UPDATE: Sounds like Wentz’s return won’t come in Week 2, as expected.