A photo from the Eagles emerged on Wednesday that showed Carson Wentz with his teammates at spring workouts while wearing his red No. 11 jersey — an undoubtedly good sign.
But the photo also showed Wentz wearing a black brace on his surgically repaired left knee.
That’s probably a sign of things to come.
Wentz tore his ACL and LCL exactly five months ago, so it shouldn’t be surprising to see him wearing a brace right now, but it seems very possible Wentz will be wearing that brace for the foreseeable future and possibly for the rest of his career.
“It’s something that we’re working through with the training staff, with the surgeon, with the doc,” Wentz said on WIP Thursday morning, after promoting his AO1 Foundation’s new goal. “It’s just something at this part of the rehab process, it’s something that can be beneficial and just a little more protective.
“But we’ll just see as we go here, just getting used to that and see what that’s going to look like for this season and for the rest of my career. Who knows? We’ll just play it by ear and see how it goes.”
It’s worth noting that Wentz mentioned the rest of his career while talking about the brace. Even though he’s just entering his third NFL season, it seems possible that brace will become a staple of his attire, which was suggested by a well-respected orthopedic surgeon on WIP a few months ago.
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If Wentz does end up wearing a knee brace for the rest of his career, he wouldn’t be alone. Plenty of quarterbacks wear braces — even ones who have never injured a knee. Many right-handed QBs already wear braces on their left knees because that’s the front-facing leg in their throwing stances.
Then there are guys who have injured their knees and have gone on to wear them for the rest of their careers — Carson Palmer and Tom Brady come to mind.
But not every player with a serious knee injury wears a knee brace. Robert Griffin III, who suffered a terrible injury as a rookie, wore a brace in his 2013 season but dropped it in the years after.
Wentz isn’t as mobile as RGIII was, but he’s also not a statue like Palmer and Brady. His mobility falls somewhere in between, so wearing a brace could potentially limit that mobility.
On Thursday, Wentz was asked how cumbersome wearing a brace will be?
“Just getting used to it now,” Wentz answered. “It’s still pretty new. Right now, I’m just in the feeling out process with the brace, what it could potentially look like. Again, I don’t know how I feel about it quite yet, but we’re working through that.”
Wentz has continued to say his goal is to return for Week 1. If that happens, he'll probably be wearing the brace for the opener -- and perhaps much longer.