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Orthopedic Surgeon: Carson Wentz's Injury Is 'Worrisome'

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Carson Wentz says his goal is to be ready for Week 1 of the 2018 season.

NovaCare Dr. John Kelly -- an orthopedic surgeon and Director, Shoulder sports medicine as well as Professor of Clinical Orthopaedic Surgery at Penn Orthopedic -- isn't so optimistic. Dr. Kelly, who admittedly has no inside knowledge of the situation, believes Wentz's injury requires a nine to 11 month recovery.

Related: Wentz, In One Week, Went From Super Bowl Win, To Engaged, To Filling In For The VP

Wentz suffered his knee injury on December 10th, 2017.

"This is an ACL plus 2," Dr. Kelly told the 94WIP Morning Show on Tuesday. "This is an RG3 equivalent folks. This is worrisome. Now, his good news, he had a very good surgeon -- Dr. James Bradley. He's going to have good therapy virtue of NovaCare. He's a man of faith, which is important to me too. This guy is an excellent patient. But I think his timeline is very, very optimistic.

 

In December, NFL.com's Ian Rapoport reported Wentz had surgery to "repair a torn ACL, a partially torn IT [iliotibial] band, and to clean up some meniscus damage."

"The meter has changed from ACL recovery from six months to nine months. This is an ACL plus, at least, two ligaments. If he tore the LCL, which was wrote in the press – that's wrong.

"What I saw in the video, he had at least three ligaments on the outside of the knee damaged. That's requires reconstruction, that's a long rehab. And if it were my patient, I'd be thinking nine, 10, or even 11 months."

In addition, Dr. Kelly believes Wentz may have to play with a brace for the rest of his career.

"This kid, God bless him, is probably going to be brace dependent – like Brady, like RG3 was – the rest of his career," said Dr. Kelly. "This may be a blessing in disguise, maybe become more of a drop back quarterback that we all want him to be."

"[Week 1] is definitely my goal," Wentz told Angelo Cataldi and the 94WIP Morning Show last week. "Timetables and all those things are always such a fluid thing. Obviously can't come out and make a declaration on anything, but my goal is to be playing in Week 1."

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