Eagles head coach Doug Pederson on Friday confirmed starting quarterback Carson Wentz does have a stress fracture in his back.
Pederson called the injury one that “has evolved over time” and will not require surgery. The injury will heal on its own.
“Here’s what I can confirm,” Pederson said to start his 12-minute and sometimes contentious press conference. “He has a stress injury that, this thing has evolved over time. And it requires zero surgery to heal.”
While Wentz first appeared on the injury report with a back injury in October, a scan on Tuesday picked up the fracture. Pederson would not say when the injury first occurred, nor would he say that the injury in October led to or was the same injury as this one.
Even though Wentz will officially be listed as questionable for Sunday’s game after not practicing this week, the full length of recovery is expected to be around three months. He is expected to make a full recovery.
Wentz will travel to LA with the team, despite the long flight, but Pederson said the team wouldn’t put Wentz out there if there’s risk of future injury. It seems pretty obvious that Nick Foles will start on Sunday.
“If we put [Wentz] out there, there has to be 100 percent that there’s no risk of anything further,” Pederson said.
If the injury had evolved over time, it would make sense if it had gotten worse and if Wentz had felt worse over time. Pederson said Wentz had not been feeling worse and the injury had not affected his play calling.
Several times on Friday, Pederson declined to offer more specifics about the injury and its origins.
“Again, this thing has just evolved,” he said. “We were rolling.”
This injury is a stress fracture, not to be confused with the transverse process fracture Jay Ajayi had earlier this season or the one Pederson once had as a player. They are very different injuries, with the stress fracture sometimes being labeled a little tricker injury. Despite this, Pederson said the best news they received is that Wentz won’t need surgery and the type of injury it doesn’t worry the team and more long-term.
When asked why Wentz was continually put out on the field with a back injury, Pederson explained that they didn’t know the severity of the injury until a scan on Tuesday revealed the fracture. Pederson said he’s not concerned in hindsight that Wentz played with an injury because Wentz was feeling 100 percent and was not exhibiting symptoms.
Obviously, Wentz had been recovering from his torn ACL and LCL suffered last December, which some have speculated could have led to this back injury. Pederson on Friday denied that theory.
Still, it’s looking more and more likely that his 2018 season is over, even if the Eagles don’t want to admit it.
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