Bad news from the Colts. Carson Wentz is having surgery.
Stephen Holder from The Athletic reported:
Breaking: Frank Reich says Carson Wentz had an old foot injury dating back to perhaps high school according to doctors. Over time, the broken bone came loose and caused pain. The decision has been made to undergo surgery and remove it. 5-12 weeks.
— Stephen Holder (@HolderStephen) August 2, 2021
This morning, this had been our Indianapolis Team Report. We'll be updating immediately but this gives you a good sense of where things were.
In our Detailed Team Projections, you can see here how we had every player for the Colts projected for this season. We're reshuffling this right now.
Here's how our Sigmund Bloom is seeing it:
The Colts and Carson Wentz spent the weekend thinking it over and decided in the end for Wentz to have foot surgery. The team is characterizing it as an old injury, perhaps dating back to high school, that became "loose" and caused pain. They gave an extremely wide return-to-play range of 5-12 weeks, adding that after the first 2-3 weeks Wentz's timeline should become clearer. The NFL has carried over more liberal injured reserve rules that allow teams to put an unlimited number of players on the list and have them return to the active roster after as little as three weeks.
With Wentz ineligible for the PUP list, starting the season on injured reserve is within the range of outcomes, and perhaps the most likely outcome. The early end of the return to play range would put him on the field for Week 1, but foot surgery recovery can be tricky, so look for the Colts to be conservative. The Eagles are watching closely as they will get the Colts' 2022 first-round pick if Wentz plays 70% of the snaps and the Colts make the playoffs or if he plays 75% of the snaps no matter the outcome of the Colts season. It's possible that those thresholds are unattainable before Wentz takes his first regular-season snap in a new uniform.
The Colts signed Brett Hundley immediately after Wentz's injury was announced, but now that they have opted for surgery, they could make another move to add a more experienced starter for any weeks Wentz will miss. Nick Foles is the Bears' third quarterback and he has experience with Frank Reich. Backups like Marcus Mariota, Gardner Minshew, and Case Keenum could also be considerations. We'll judge how the Colts are feeling about this internally by the kind of move they make.
Wentz becomes almost undraftable in typical 1QB leagues with the uncertain timeline and only a QB3 in Superflex/2QB leagues. He's down in the range of the least trustworthy sure starters like Jared Goff or quarterbacks who aren't even assured of a starting job like Drew Lock. Jonathan Taylor takes a small hit with the possible letdown of a less efficient and effective offense while Wentz is out and the specter of Wentz's injuries affecting the offense beyond just this surgery. No Colts wide receiver is being taken in the first half of drafts and that obviously won't change, but this does dampen the new sleeper appeal of Michael Pittman Jr after he was generating buzz in early practices.
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