Colts Not Wanting to Rush Back Wentz

The biggest storyline surrounding the Indianapolis Colts continues to be the health of quarterback Carson Wentz.

Wentz had surgery a few weeks ago to remove a portion of bone from his ankle, and the team is continuing to work towards nailing down a timeline to return.

Playing without Wentz is going to make things extremely challenging for the Colts, but the team also doesn’t want to rush him back before he is ready. Owner Jim Irsay announced to the media that he only wants Wentz to return when he is 100% healthy and is willing to wait until that time occurs.

In a statement, Irsay said, “But he has to help by only coming back when he’s ready because we want to see him healthy for two months and two years and four years and do those things that you see the great players at the Hall of Fame (do).”

The Colts are clearly worried about the number of injuries that Wentz has had during his short NFL career as he has only played two full seasons since joining the league five years ago. Playing without Wentz is going to be extremely tough for the Colts, but they will need him for the end of the season.

There have been some reports that Wentz could be in line to play in the season opener, and left guard Quenton Nelson is on that same path. Nelson also suffered the same injury as Wentz, and he is another key part of the Colts team in 2021.

There was an initial timetable of five to 12 weeks set for each player, but the Colts admitted that things could change depending on how quickly the foot started to heal. This week, Wentz was seen as an active participant at practice, but it was still on a very limited basis.

Wentz is starting to work with the offense during the walkthrough portion of practice and could begin throwing by the end of the week. There are still many steps Wentz needs to overcome to be ready to play, but things are progressing in the right direction.

Colts Win Preseason Opener

The Indianapolis Colts took the field on Sunday night to open up the preseason portion of their schedule against the Carolina Panthers. Indianapolis came away with a 21-18 victory, but the play at the quarterback position was the most important aspect of the game.

Jacob Eason got the start at the quarterback position on Sunday night, but it was rookie Sam Ehlinger that finished the game. Both quarterbacks played better than expected, and that should at least give the Colts and their fans a sense of relief.

Eason played in the first half for the Colts and he went 15 of 21 for 183 yards while facing mostly the second-unit defense of Carolina. Ehlinger led the Colts down the field to set up the game-winning field goal and also complete a high percentage of his passes.

Both players will continue battling it out for the starting quarterback job until Wentz is able to get back to full health and return to the field.

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