Unvaccinated Colts quarterback Carson Wentz has COVID-19 at the worst possible time, knocking him out for Indianapolis’ Week 17 matchup against the Raiders.
The Colts are 9-6 and currently sitting in the first AFC wild-card spot, but four teams are right there at 8-7, including the Raiders.
NFL players who have not received a coronavirus vaccine are required to isolate for 10 days after testing positive, although those protocols could change in light of the federal government revising its guidance down to five days of isolation regardless of vaccination status.
The omicron variant is tearing through the NFL right now, with two teams’ worth of players testing positive for COVID-19 on Monday alone.
Wentz’s COVID-19 case also comes the week after he took enough snaps to clinch sending Indy’s first-round draft pick to the Eagles.
Several of the Colts’ best players are among the fewer than 10% of NFL players who are unvaccinated. Guard Quenton Nelson and linebacker Darius Leonard missed Saturday’s surprising win over the Cardinals because they are unvaccinated and positive for the virus.
Wentz said he was unvaxxed at the start of the season and told reporters that, “For me, nothing has changed,” before the Week 16 win.
“I’m weighing every pro and con out there. It keeps me up at night, and a lot of things go on inside my head,” he said of the vaccine before the season began, “but it’s where we’re at right now.”
Now the other shoe has dropped and the Colts are starting rookie sixth-round pick Sam Ehlinger for the biggest game of their season, and perhaps longer.
