Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Wentz, Foles likely to share reps in camp
Everyone showed up and no one got hurt.
In today’s NFL, that’s the definition of a successful minicamp.
The bonus for the Eagles, who wrapped up their three-day camp Thursday, was the progression of quarterback Carson Wentz. He’s made such strides in his comeback from knee surgery that head coach Doug Pederson spilled the beans about the plan for training camp.
Wentz likely will split first-team reps at camp with Super Bowl LII MVP Nick Foles, assuming he gets medical clearance.
“I think as Carson gets stronger and we’re able to give him more reps as we go, particularly in training camp, 7-on-7’s, things like that,” Pederson said. “We can continue to go back to my first year where we were trying to get all three guys equal amount of reps going through the first couple weeks of training camp. It’s going to be maybe the same type of thing where Nick and Carson are working with the ones, working with the starters. And we’re not losing a lot of that valuable time.”
Wentz think the latter is just a formality.
Speaking of valuable time, Pederson can stop acting like he’s at the
mercy of those medical reports he’s supposedly unaware of. That was getting seriously old.
Dividing the first-team reps at training camp among Wentz and Foles makes all the sense in the world for the offense, from the line to the receivers and running backs. If history has taught the Eagles anything, it’s that they need to have two quarterbacks ready at all times.
“For everybody up front, we’ve had a lot of familiarity with both of them,” center Jason Kelce said. “That’s the good side of it, that everybody kind of feels comfortable with either one of them. And now it’s just trying to make sure that Carson is getting the reps, getting the feeling of being able to take hits, run, do all the things necessary to play the game. We want to make sure that when he’s in there he feels comfortable and that he’s ready to go.
“And then obviously to have a guy like Nick right there, who I think you’d have a lot of teams in this league wishing that he was their starting quarterback. We’re in a very, very fortunate situation.”
It took Pederson a few days to realize how ridiculous it was throwing cold water on Wentz’s rehab.
Wasn’t that hard, was it Doug?
*** Eagles players present and past began bumping into each other Thursday afternoon, ahead the team’s Super Bowl ring ceremony that night in South Philly.
Linebacker Mychal Kendricks checked into the locker room to say hello to his former teammates. LeGarrette Blount, Beau Allen, Najee Goode and several others are expected to attend the ring ceremony.
Which brings me to a Kelce story. He was having trouble anchoring at center, and that led to pressure coming up the A gaps, which are between the center and the guards.
Allen, the 335-pound nose tackle, stayed after practice last year to help Kelce work on a weakness he’d been having with defenders getting up and under his hands.
“Beau is big guy,” Kelce said. “If you can stop him I feel you’re doing pretty good.”
Kelce had his best season. He wants Allen and all of his teammates to sign it at the ring ceremony.
“We had a really, really special team but no team is ever going to be exactly the same,” Kelce said. “So, it will be really, really special.”
*** Speaking of the ring ceremony, running back Darren Sproles will be there to pick his up along with a handful of veterans who didn’t participate in the Super Bowl.
The list includes Jason Peters, Chris Maragos and Jordan Hicks. In essence the Eagles won the Super Bowl without them. That puts them in an awkward position.
“Yeah, but then you know you’ve got another chance to win another one this year,” Sproles said. “It’s still special with all the years I put in this league. These things don’t happen all the time.”
*** Timing obviously means nothing to the Pro Football Writers Association of America, as it awarded Eagles defensive end Chris Long the 2018 Good Guy Award for his cooperation with the media in 2017.
We would have given it to Malcolm Jenkins — and in 2017, not this year.
*** Patriots The spent $36,500 on Super Bowl rings two years ago.
If Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie ups the ante, he’ll have a huge bill unless he finds a sponsor.
Say the Eagles’ rings are $50,000 each. If you hand out 100, that’s $5 million.