By Monday, Wentz had joined the Birds’ first-team offense for the first time, save for a handful of training-camp snap repetitions with center Jason Kelce.
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He and his hunting partners weren’t having much luck, only bagging one bird Saturday morning when his cell phone buzzed. It could be a good sign Wentz being in great physical condition though.
Head coach Doug Pederson was asked on Monday about the quick turnaround for Wentz, and how he will handle it. Philly then traded a bevy of draft picks, including their 2016 and 2017 first round selections, to move up and draft Wentz. “And that’s fine. We’re going to get behind that and roll with it”. Despite this, Pederson said the Eagles are “very comfortable” with where the team is with Wentz as the starter.
He understands that young quarterbacks often fall victim to “bumps in the road”, but Wentz said he will “take them in stride” and learn from whatever mistakes arise.
Obviously the Eagles view Wentz highly enough to be OK with trading Sam Bradford to the Vikings, so there’s little doubt he could have started for the Browns this season. He believes he is ready for the pressure cooker of playing for a championship-starved fan base.
“You inherit the pressure”.
Wentz may not have played a lot in the preseason, but in the one game he did play in, he looked sharp, displaying all the attributes noted by PFF. “The pressure, and all the outside everything, it’s just a game of football and that’s how I view it and I’m just ready to attack it and do my best”. Wentz was third on the depth chart before the trade, but he has since leapfrogged backup Chase Daniel.
“Chase was brought in here for a reason”, Pederson said. He continued, “Everybody feels like this kid is ready to go and we drafted him to take on the reins and it’s something now we are prepared to do”. Yes, both McNabb and Wentz were the second picks in the draft the year they came in.
One way of looking at the Cleveland Browns as they embark on their 2016 season is it will be almost impossible for them to fall below expectations.
Wentz, 23, is expecting nothing less of himself. “But believe me, it’s not going to get in the way of my preparation”. “I’ll probably know more further down this week as far as that goes”. “But I didn’t feel overwhelmed or anything”. If his rib injury allowed him to play in week one, he would become the starter. So Pederson is giving Wentz the keys not to be accompanied by a short leash. We’re actually kind of shocked that Philadelphia is still holding at -4. The Eagles made that official by naming him the starting quarterback Monday.
“Some guys don’t even do half of those things”, he said in April.
Against that backdrop, Pederson – who previously spoke of sitting Wentz this season to allow the former North Dakota State star to grow and develop – outlined the decision to play Wentz after all, saying “it’s something that we believe in”. “But that’s up to us to pick him up, elevate him and help him do well”.
“Would the ideal situation be later than sooner?”
“We didn’t draft Carson Wentz because we didn’t think it was the right fit for our team at this time”.
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“The trade happened”, Pederson said.
