Monday’s brief practice at the NovaCare Complex marked the first occasion he’s ever worked out with the starting offense. He was in Tennessee with Marcus Mariota until he was traded to the Eagles in mid-August, and just as he was starting to build up chemistry with Bradford, Bradford was shipped to the Vikings. Wentz only appeared in one preseason game and suffered a rib injury. He sat out the last three preseason games.
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The Moneyball aspect is clearly a part of DePodesta’s DNA as an executive but hindsight now says he handed Wentz and Philadelphia some bulletin-board material in advance of Sunday’s opener when he explained the team’s thinking back before the beginning of training camp.
Now, it has all changed and Pederson and Wentz swear they are ready for it.
“I knew I was ready”, Wentz said. I knew as I was taking the mental reps, being out the last couple of weeks. He’s a top talent, but I’m significantly curbing expectations for him Week 1-especially if the forecast holds up and rain plays a role on Sunday. “I’m already excited. I’m trying to control a little bit and focus in all week”.
Wentz was asked about that, but kept his answer short and uncontroversial.
Wide receiver Bryce Treggs, whom the Eagles claimed from the San Francisco 49ers, said he was about to sign his practice-squad contract with the 49ers when his agent called and told him the Eagles claimed him. “I’m just ready to attack it and do my best”. It’s a terrific haul for Eagles general manager Howie Roseman that has the potential to get even sweeter.
It wasn’t supposed to be that way.
If the Eagles, now under the guidance of former Chiefs OC, Doug Pederson, who coached Jamaal Charles can provide schemes for Matthews that will have him in open space we may see the Matthews the Chargers were hoping for when they drafted him with the 12th pick in 2010.
Personally, in watching Wentz’s college games, I thought that Wentz’s release was a strength, at least for a guy who is 6’5.
“I don’t think that’s a factor at all”, Pederson said.
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.
Pederson will own the decision to pick the rookie over the veteran to replace the traded Sam Bradford.
“Would the ideal situation be later than sooner?”
“That’s just the type of person and that’s the type of quarterback that we have”, Pederson said.
“We’ve been communicating and working together cohesively since the spring, so we expect to go out and there and play well, have success”, Kelce said.
There have been teams that succeeded behind rookie quarterbacks – Atlanta with Matt Ryan and Baltimore with Joe Flacco in 2008, Indianapolis with Andrew Luck and Seattle with Russell Wilson in 2012, to name a few – but I just don’t see it with the Eagles. The answer, according to the team’s football czar, is simply the fact that the team did not rate Wentz that highly. Let him develop and down the road he could be a good National Football League starter. That means Johnson could possibly play the first four games or so if he decides to go that route. They now have 17 rookies on the 53-man roster.
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Although in O’Brien’s defense, he was throwing a football that looked like a watermelon.
