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Justin Casterline / Stringer

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Carson Wentz suffered a foot injury last Thursday that required surgery, which was completed on Monday. On Tuesday, head coach Frank Reich told reporters that the surgery was successful, and revealed no other complications in his foot, according to Joel A. Erickson of the Indianapolis Star. The team announced that his recovery timetable will be between five to 12 weeks. The goal of the procedure, according to Erickson, was to remove a piece of bone that had broken loose in Wentz's foot.

"Very successful surgery," Reich said, via Erickson. "Best-case scenario. What's that mean? It means you go in, you remove the (piece of) bone that was in there, you look around, and there was nothing else going on. That was good news, and now it's all about the rehab process."

This fuels the dark cloud of injury that has attached itself to what began as a promising NFL career for Wentz. Without Wentz at QB1, the Colts will see their odds of taking the AFC South diminish. With Wentz under center, the Colts are projected to have a solid 49.7% chance of winning the division but that drops mightily to just 35.8% if Jacob Eason is the starter in 2021, per CBS Sports stats analyst Stephen Oh. 

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Additionally, Oh projects the odds of the Colts making the playoffs altogether falling nearly 16% -- from 73.8 to 57.9 -- putting them in murky waters going forward.

Eason doesn't have the experience many view as needed to carry the franchise, and while he might surprise if Wentz is sidelined for the foreseeable future, there's also a chance he might not; and rookie quarterback Sam Ehlinger will also need to be rapidly brought up to speed as a potential QB2. The Colts also signed Brett Hundley to add competition in camp, with Hundley hoping to find a way to climb the depth chart to make an impact in 2021.

Wentz was enjoying an MVP-caliber season in 2017 before going down with a torn ACL just ahead of the playoffs -- backup Nick Foles stepping in to finish the job en route to leading the team to its first-ever Lombardi trophy and being named Super Bowl MVP in the process. In 2018, he missed the first two games with a knee injury and was eventually shut down with a back injury but, despite his durability issues, the Eagles exercised his fifth-year option before awarding him a four-year, $128 million contract with $107 million guaranteed less than two months later. 

They'd go on to make the playoffs in 2019, but Wentz played just nine snaps in the NFC Wild Card against the Seattle Seahawks before leaving with a concussion after only one completion. The Eagles went on to lose that contest and Wentz would see his career arc in Philly take a nosedive thereafter -- having been benched in 2020 for rookie second-rounder Jalen Hurts -- before ultimately being shipped to the Colts in an era change that also saw head coach Doug Pedersen get the ax.

Now reunited with Reich, former offensive coordinator for the Eagles turned head coach in Indy, there's a lot on the line for Wentz heading into 2021. The last thing he needed was another injury, but that's exactly what's on his plate at the moment. Until he returns, it'll be second-year talent Jacob Eason taking first team reps, and hoping to impress in the process.