When Carson Wentz returns to the field and his Eagles teammates in 2018, there may be a slight equipment adjustment that will take some getting used to.

The latest news on the Carson Wentz injury front isn’t the best news that we’ve heard in a while. Once we knew said injury wasn’t just an ACL injury, but an LCL tear as well, word quickly spread around the Philadelphia Eagles organization and its’ fan base that the recovery time would be longer than most of us expected.

The theory that Wentz might be ready for the 2018 NFL season opener prompted some to believe that his backup, Nick Foles, had become expendable. That prompted rumors of a possible trade with the Cleveland Browns or just trade rumors in general. Now, not even a week later, we may be staring at the possibility that a Foles trade wouldn’t be a wise idea.

Brace yourself for what may be some bad news.

Dr. John Kelly has developed quite a resume during his medical career. He’s an orthopedic surgeon and the Professor of Clinical Orthopaedic Surgery at Penn Orthopedic among other things. On Tuesday, November 20th, he appeared on the 94WIP Morning Show with Angelo Cataldi and The Morning Team. Unfortunately, Dr. Kelly did nothing to diminish the worries of a very concerned fan base.

Here’s some of what he had to say:

This is an ACL plus 2, an RG3 equivalent folks. This is worrisome. Now, his good news, he had a very good surgeon, Dr. James Bradley. He’s going to have good therapy virtue of NovaCare. He’s a man of faith, which is important to me too. This guy is an excellent patient, but I think his timeline is very, very optimistic.

How does this change what we already knew?

According to Dr. Kelly, Wentz’s injury would require a nine to 11-month recovery period, and that’s probably if he wasn’t playing football. Wentz’s injury occurred just 15 days prior to Christmas on December 10th. We were all told that, once Wentz underwent surgery, he’d need about six months to heal. With what we now know, that prognosis changes to about nine months.

Dr. Kelly added that, with Wentz damaging three ligaments on the outside of his knee, he’d need reconstruction. That would also increase the chances of the need for him to wear a knee brace for the remainder of his career. Philly’s franchise signal caller has defied the odds a time or two in his career, including rising to star status in the NFL despite not having playing at a Division One school. If he’s to beat the odds in this situation, however, he’ll need a showing of fortitude that none of us have seen.

Then again, this is another Philadelphia sports story right? Why wouldn’t the circumstances be anything other than another than another story of overcoming the odds?