The Vikings' judgement—specifically that of coach Kevin O'Connell—came into question after it was announced that quarterback Carson Wentz underwent season-ending shoulder surgery earlier this week. Just this past week, Wentz played through what was later revealed to be a dislocated shoulder, which included a torn labrum and fractured socket in his non-throwing shoulder, an injury he had suffered three weeks prior during a win over the Browns.
It begged the question: Was Wentz put in harm's way?
Wentz, speaking to reporters Wednesday, took some of the heat off of the Vikings.
"Sounds like it's been reported, kind of, the situation. How it happened against the Browns," Wentz said. "But the whole time I still felt like I could help this team. I knew what I was signing up for. It wasn't like anyone was forcing me to go. This is my 10th year in the league.
"There's a lot bigger things in my life to worry about so I wasn't going to do anything that would be detrimental to my own health. So I knew what I was getting into."
Kevin O'Connell defends Vikings' thought process while managing Wentz injury
"There was never a point in time where, medically, we were going against the grain of what was in Carson's best interest and ultimately what Carson wanted to kind of see through," O'Connell said Tuesday during his weekly radio appearance.
Wentz went on to add that he and the Vikings "knew" surgery was inevitable after he initially suffered the injury back in Week 5, but that playing through it was more of a pain tolerance issue than anything that could be considered unsafe. The Vikings QB, the No. 2 pick in the 2016 NFL draft who has bounced between five teams since briefly reaching stardom with the Eagles, acknowledged that a part of him wanted to gut it out knowing he had been given a starting role in the NFL after three straight seasons spent largely as a backup.
Wentz defends Vikings organization after "backlash"
"... Like I said this whole time, the communication from coach, training staff, team doctors, even the outside sources with my agent has been terrific," Wentz said. "Maybe the public backlash or different things that I'm being told are out there, I think is personally kind of crazy.
"Nobody is in this building. Nobody is in those conversations. Nobody knows what's truly going on and transpiring behind these walls. And I can just honestly say this place has been super supportive and super helpful this whole time and I'm grateful for that."
The Vikings' QB duties are set to once again be handled by J.J. McCarthy, who has been nursing an ankle injury.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Carson Wentz Defends Kevin O'Connell After Playing Through Serious Shoulder Injury .