Carson Wentz Reportedly Expected to Be Ready for Week 1 After Knee Injury

When the Philadelphia Eagles open the 2018 NFL season against the Atlanta Falcons on Sept. 6, they may be doing so with their star QB under center.

ESPN's Chris Mortensen, via colleague Adam Schefter, said on Tuesday that he is "starting to believe that Carson Wentz is going to be ready for the opener" based on what he is hearing.

Wentz suffered a season-ending injury in Week 14 last season when he tore his ACL against the Los Angeles Rams. He injured it on a touchdown run that was ultimately called back due to penalty, although he stayed in the game for a couple more plays to finish the drive with a touchdown pass.

At that moment, Philadelphia's dream season appeared to be all but over. After all, the second-year quarterback was having an MVP-caliber season.

Wentz threw for 3,296 yards with 33 touchdowns and just seven interceptions in 13 games. The former No. 2 overall pick had led his Eagles to an 11-2 record, the best mark in the NFC and enough to clinch the division in the game he went down.

As easy as it would have been for the team to dwell on the injury and give up on the season, Philadelphia instead embraced the "underdog" role and went on an unbelievable run to win its first-ever Super Bowl championship.

Nick Foles wound up leading the Eagles to an upset victory over Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII, 41-33. The backup's 373 yards and three touchdowns earned him Super Bowl MVP honors.

Make no mistake about it, though. There was no quarterback controversy following the Super Bowl run—this was and is Wentz's team.

Philadelphia listened to offers on Foles with the intention of giving him a chance to start somewhere else if they received an offer they couldn't refuse. However, no team blew the Eagles away with an offer, so they kept the veteran as an insurance policy for Wentz (while restructuring Foles' contract to reward him).

Wentz has a long way to go before he is ready to step on the field against NFL defenses, but the 25-year-old has made great strides on the recovery trail. There are still just more than three months until the season kicks off, and if Wentz is for some reason unable to be cleared in time, the Eagles can take the field with a reliable fallback.