The thought that the Eagles or their medical team has mishandled Carson Wentz' injury is misguided.
Wentz is the franchise quarterback. They have closely monitored his health throughout the entire year alongside his agent and outside doctors.
Carson desperately wanted to start the season, but the Eagles decided to hold him back and take the cautious approach after recovering from knee surgery.
They are doing the same thing now.
An NFL source told NBC Sports Philadelphia that the Eagles had been evaluating and monitoring Carson Wentz's back very closely over the last few months. They had done multiple MRIs and taken multiple images of his back, but a fracture first came up on imaging this week. In fact, Carson was feeling some pain in another area that led to another test on his back.
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Carson's back was actually feeling a little better recently. Earlier scans did show there was some stress on the back, and it was agreed by all involved to keep playing, according to the source.
A fracture can eventually happen from the stress, but that is not guaranteed. Wentz has been consulting with an outside doctor through this whole process and the doctor has been aligned with the Eagles on the results of the imaging.
Head coach Doug Pederson, in a somewhat contentious press conference on Friday, told the media that Wentz "has a stress injury that, this thing has evolved over time. And it requires zero surgery to heal."
Doug Pederson is accurate when he says that this evolved over time. The stress can become a fracture from the constant torquing and motion a quarterback typically goes through. Carson really wants to play, and has been checking with an outside doctor to see if there is any way he can play, according to our source, but the Eagles are being cautious with their franchise quarterback.
The team believes rest is the best thing for Carson at this point.
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