Carson Wentz is still eyeing Week 1 for his return.
Speaking Monday on NFL Network's Good Morning Football the Philadelphia Eagles' quarterback reiterated that he's still on track after tearing his ACL in Week 14.
"Rehab has been great. Obviously, it's not fun. It's quite the process. It can be painful some days," he said. "But so far everything is going well. Where I'm at I'm very confident. My goal is to be ready Week 1."
Wentz has heard the criticism that he takes too many unnecessary hits, which puts him at risk of perpetual injuries. Entering his third season, the QB knows he can avoid some bruises, but won't completely change how he attacks the game.
"As far as changing as a player, there's just things that I'll continue to learn through my whole career," he said. "There's times when you look back on the tape and maybe I should have avoided that (hit), know when to cut your losses. But overall, as an aggressive player, I'm not going to change, so to speak. I'm not going to let this slow me down going forward. I truly believe I'll come back stronger than ever. Especially having to miss the playoffs, miss the Super Bowl. As exciting as it was there was just that little uneasiness inside of me to have to miss those games. I truly believe I'll be back stronger than ever and I'm not too worried about it going forward."
Wentz tore his ACL and LCL on Dec. 10. With the standard recovery period spanning 9-12 months, there is a chance the 25-year-old won't be ready when the Eagles kick off the season against the Atlanta Falcons on Sept. 6. Wentz, however, isn't letting that reality seep into his thought process.
"I'm very confident," he said when asked if he'll be ready Week 1. "It's a fluid process, so you never know how it's going to go, but where we're at, just trying to do what the doctors say and just take it step by step. There are times when you feel great and want to push it more, but you've got to stay the course with what the doctors are saying. I feel really good and really confident for Week 1."
It's easy to be optimistic in May. We'll see if Wentz continues his upbeat prognosis three months down the line.
If Wentz isn't ready for the season opener, the Eagles will ride Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles to start the year. The uncertainty of Wentz's rehab is the reason Philly didn't trade Foles, and why they re-did his contract to add incentives.
Wentz said Monday that there is no awkwardness between the two competitors.
"I think Nick and I, just from the outside world you'd think there could be some potential ruffled feathers and different things going on. But the way Nick and I have handled just our relationship, the basis of our relationship is we're friends first and foremost before we're teammates. So that's made things so much easier to just root each other on and just have complete confidence in each other. We both know kind of where we're at and what going forward is going to look like. So I'm really confident that there'll be no issues with that. I love Nick and we both understand kind of the nature of this business and the outset of this team and the future. So we're excited. And I'm excited he's still here."
