Carson Wentz won’t play in his return to Philly [UPDATE]

UPDATE: Carson Wentz was officially placed on injured reserve. The Washington Commanders quarterback is thus ineligible to play in the November 14 Monday Night Football matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles.

ORIGINAL STORY PUBLISHED ON OCTOBER 17 BELOW.

The Philadelphia Eagles are flying high coming off their big win over the Dallas Cowboys. It’s time to relish in a 6-0 start entering the Birds’ Week 7 bye.

But we would be remiss not to mention a news-worthy development elsewhere in the NFC East.

Carson Wentz is expected to miss “4-6 weeks” due to a fractured ring finger, according to a report from NFL insider Ian Rapoport. RapSheet notes that the Washington Commanders might place Wentz on injured reserve, which would officially rule him out for at least four games.

The Commanders’ upcoming schedule:

Week 7 - vs. Green Bay Packers (3-3)

Week 8 - at Indianapolis Colts (3-2-1)

Week 9 - vs. Minnesota Vikings (5-1)

Week 10 - at Philadelphia Eagles (6-0)

And so it appears Wentz is on track to miss playing in his return to Lincoln Financial Field. That’s unfortunate for a few reasons.

• For starters, it would be fun if the Eagles dominated Wentz again like they did in Week 3. Especially with the crowd getting on him.
• Wentz’s backup, Taylor Heinicke, might actually be an upgrade for Washington. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a limited talent. But Heinicke can run around and generally has more moxie to offer than Wentz does.
• Wentz missing games helps the Commanders send a 2023 third-round pick to the Indianapolis Colts instead of a 2023 second-round pick. The threshold for the conditional pick is Wentz playing at least 70% of the snaps this year. Even if Wentz is healthy enough to return after four weeks, the Commanders might not be incentivized to play him again. If Heinicke outplays him, they could just stick with him. If Heinicke struggles and Washington keeps losing, they could admit it’s a lost year and look to turn to rookie quarterback Sam Howell.

As of right now, it looks like Heinicke will be starting under center when the Eagles host the Commanders on Monday Night Football at the Linc. We’ll see if it continues to trend that way.