Carson Wentz Brought His Offensive Line Injury Problems to Indianapolis

Carson Wentz is widely viewed as a reclamation project of sorts for the Indianapolis Colts. The last three seasons have not been kind to the former MVP candidate. Everything went downhill after he tore his ACL in the midst of his 2017 campaign, the Philadelphia Eagles decided they wanted to move on, and now the signal-caller finds himself trying to start anew in the Midwest.

Unfortunately for both player and team, things have not gotten off to a hot start. Wentz had an old foot injury pop up in the early days of training camp, and everyone quickly learned Wentz needed surgery to fix it. He's now out for 5-12 weeks, a rather broad spectrum of recovery that could be either great or terrible for the Colts.

Tuesday brought news that somehow made everything worse. Head coach Frank Reich announced All-Pro guard Quentin Nelson also needed surgery and would be out for a while. Not only that, but it's the exact same type of injury Wentz suffered, and it comes with the exact same table. Now Indy's most important player (Wentz) and their best player (Nelson) are both set to miss anywhere from one to eight games in the first half of the year. The only person who benefits from any of this is the doctor involved, who will perform both surgeries on back-to-back days.

If there have been two aspects of Wentz' career that has defined his NFL journey to this point, it's injuries to himself and injuries to his offensive line. Apparently, not even a change in scenery can change that.

While in Philadelphia, Wentz suffered the aforementioned ACL injury, a back fracture, a broken wrist, a rib fracture, and a concussion. 2020 was his only "fully" healthy season and he played terribly because... his offensive line was in tatters due to injury. Four of the five starters heading into the season (not including Andre Dillard, a presumptive starter who hit the IR before the season) missed multiple games. In 2019, both of Wentz' starting tackles missed several starts. In 2018, Lane Johnson was banged up for a chunk of the season and starting left guard Isaac Seumalo missed three games late in the year. In 2017, Jason Peters hit the IR halfway through the year and Johnson dealt with his own set of maladies yet again.

You get the point. Injuries, of course, happen in the NFL and it's exceedingly rare for any team to get through an entire season without someone on the offensive line missing a game here and there. But Wentz and his teammates have been particularly unlucky. We're not even a week into training camp in Indianapolis and his best lineman is already going to miss the first chunk of the season-- a stretch that is going to require all hands on deck to produce if they want a shot at a late-season playoff run.

Wentz clearly needs a rabbit's foot or something. The Colts need to put dreamcatchers around the facilities. Because Wentz' poor injury luck has followed him to Indianapolis.