Wentz Shows Off His Progress

PHILADELPHIA (973espn.com) - The latest Carson Wentz update came from the man himself as the Eagles star quarterback shared some video on Instagram throwing the football from various angles with a brace on his surgically-repaired left knee.

Wentz, of course, tore the ACL and the LCL in the knee against the Los Angeles Rams on Dec. 10 and has said he plans to be back for Week 1 of the 2018 season.

"My goal is to be ready for Week 1," he claimed before the Super Bowl. "I'm going to push and do everything I can to be ready."

For the Eagles, the reigning league champions, that's Sept. 6 in Lincoln Financial Field, likely against the Minnesota Vikings in a rematch of the NFC Championship Game.

The timing for such an injury and rehab is typically around nine months, according to Dr. Andreas Gomoll, a sports medicine surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York and an Associate Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Cornell Medical School.

"If just the ACL is damaged, recovery for an elite athlete who can focus on recovering (rather than having to go to work and rehab in the evenings) can be as short as six months," Gomoll told 973espn.com. "If other ligaments are damaged enough to require repair, such as the lateral collateral ligament (LCL), then recovery will be longer - closer to nine-12 months."

Gomoll is not Wentz's surgeon of course so he can only offer an opinion on the reported information and the typical recovery time of top-tier athletes.

Further reports of meniscus damage for Wentz does not raise any red flags for Gomoll, however.

"Meniscus injury, while increasing the risk of arthritis later in life, doesn’t add much to the recovery, since most meniscus tears in these elite athletes are cleaned up, rather than stitched back together," Gomoll said.

Wentz went down at the Los Angeles Coliseum on Dec. 10, so nine months from that day would be Sept. 10. for days after the opener

Week 1 remains a possibility but expect a different quarterback if that's the case, one that is not quite 100 percent from both a mental and physical standpoint with some added equipment, the brace, which should be around for a bit.

"For an isolated ACL I would recommend a brace for the first one to two seasons," Gomoll said. "If there was more extensive damage it might be advisable to use the brace longer."

Wentz, a serious MVP candidate when he went down, threw for 3,296 yards and ranked second in the NFL in touchdown passes with 33 against only seven interceptions.

-John McMullen covers the Eagles and the NFL for 973espn.com. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen