But let’s get real, because the season starts this Sunday, against the Cleveland Browns: The Eagles have everything on the line.
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Although numerous players were very supportive of Sam Bradford, the veteran players on the Eagles have all voiced their confidence in Wentz.
The Eagles traded Rowe, their second-round pick past year, to the Patriots on Tuesday for a fourth-round pick that will become a third-round pick if Rowe plays 50 percent of the Patriots’ defensive snaps in either of the next two seasons. Pederson praises Wentz for his preparation and professionalism, but there’s little National Football League film – 39 total preseason snaps – for the Browns to use in scouting the No. 2 pick in the 2016 draft. In the trade, the Browns received the Eagles’ first-round pick (eighth overall) for this year, a third-rounder, and a fourth-rounder, and their 2017 first-round pick, as well as their 2018 second-round pick in order for Philly, all in order to grab North Dakota State quarterback Carson Wentz.
“That is all in the past”, Wentz said. Invariably, the team cuts ties with the player a few years later, no better off than they were before they drafted him. “We spent a lot of time with him like everybody that has drafted quarterbacks in the National Football League”.
In a recent interview with ESPN’s Tony Grossi, Browns chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta claimed that the reason the Browns didn’t target Wentz in this year’s draft was because they did not believe he was a franchise quarterback.
It should be noted that the Browns will start Robert Griffin III on Sunday.
At the time of the trade, the Browns’ quarterback depth chart was bleak.
Doug Pederson pulled into his parking space at the Eagles’ practice facility Wednesday before the sun rose.
“He didn’t make it a big deal, just saying Carson is the guy”, Ertz said.
Pederson told a bit of a different story, though, suggesting that the entire playbook will be open to Wentz because of his ability to absorb it so quickly.
“I was actually laying in the middle of a cornfield and hunting”, he said Monday at the NovaCare Complex. Wentz had arrived at 5:15 a.m., which was about 30 minutes before Pederson did and shortly before Daniel, the Birds’ veteran backup, joined him. The blockbuster trade means they’d rather rebuild this season than try to contend in a weak NFC East. Oh, and rookie quarterback Carson Wentz will make his first career start. He’s always studying. Ertz also said he thinks Wentz expands the playbook because of his athleticism. “This is just the beginning of the new normal”. Here are five reasons as to why Carson Wentz being given the reins is the right move for Philadelphia.
“Coming from a smaller school, you kind of have a chip on your shoulder so to speak”, he said.
He called that injury a fluke play and said on Monday that “it won’t happen again”. He sat out the last three preseason games.
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“I don’t look at it like that”, he said. We’ll have to see how it goes. Pederson can understand what Wentz will be going through after experiencing the same emotions as a player, and expects to have similar emotions on Sunday.
