New hurdles lie ahead for Eagles QB Wentz
PHILADELPHIA >> There is no analytic to apply, no specific date to hit, no accumulation of statistics that would make it official. All Carson Wentz knows this summer is that it is time.
There he was Monday, after a training-camp practice, discussing all things Eagles. And in the middle of a thought, as if absorbing just another hit, he shared one newer description of his professional situation.
“Every year, you’re a year older,” he said. “You’re no longer the young guy anymore. You’re borderline pushing a ‘veteran.’” A veteran.
Already.
He knew that. Everybody knew that. His financial advisors knew that more than anyone when they wrangled a $128,000,000 contract extension out of Howie Roseman over the past offseason. But that’s where Wentz is after five years at North Dakota State and three with the Eagles. He will be 27 before the season he is preparing for is over. And even if that is not ancient in the era of trainingcamp pitch counts, protectthe-quarterback rules and the perennial raising of the age bar by Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers, Wentz has come this summer to know what it all means.
It means he has exhausted his get-acquainted period. It means he is no longer the youthful quarterback hired to help teammates already in place improve. There is no more new-car smell to appreciate. There is no longer an accomplished backup quarterback on staff to cover for him in case of injury. He’s that guy now, the one in the room teaching Nate Sudfeld and others how it must be done. For that, there is no better time for him to be what the Eagles are paying him to be: Their franchise face. Now. Not later.
So with that, won’t there be an added layer of pressure?
“Like I said before, the contract really doesn’t change who I am,” he said. “It doesn’t change my approach. From the outside, maybe. From the
outside, maybe they’ve done some things differently. But for me, who I am I that locker room, who I am on that field hasn’t changed.”
That sounds good. Wentz, like most of his fellow governors in the High Paid Quarterback Society, can make anything sound good behind a microphone for 15 seconds. But it’s not the same, not with the team he has around him, not with the money the Eagles are spending. And not at his age.
Though Wentz could not have reached the ninefigure-contract ring of professional success without some natural leadership skill, that must mushroom in this, his fourth season. While hardly the oldest player in a graying offense, he is going to be the one entrusted to keep them all motivated, alert and, trickiest of all, happy. As he will be the one with the ball in his hands first, he will also be juggling the egos of Alshon Jeffery and DeSean Jackson, Darren Sproles and Jordan Howard, Zach Ertz and Nelson Agholor with every snap. None are young. All are decorated. None are likely to return to a seventh consecutive huddle without a pout if they didn’t touch the ball after the previous six.
“There are mouths to feed,” Wentz acknowledged.
Wentz already has had one Pro Bowl season, and another when he provided the push to a world championship before being injured. So it’s not that he is due for a breakout year. He’s had those. But the Eagles will expect more for their buck-28. They will expect the level of leadership that will allow Wentz not only to throw 40 touchdown passes, but to make sure five Pro Bowl candidates catch eight of them apiece.
“The fortunate thing is we don’t have to worry about that too much because, A, the coaches do a great job of designing the game plan that way and, B, we have a lot of guys that are team guys,” Wentz said. “And some games DeSean might get 12 targets and Alshon will get two. And it will flip the next game. We all know Ertz is going to get his stuff over the middle, and Dallas (Goedert) will get in there, and Nelson as well.
“It’s one of those things where we have a lot of guys that are very humble and are ready to go the extra mile for their teammate. And one game it is going to be one guy, and one game it’s going to be somebody else. And when everyone knows that going in, it always makes that easier.”
That’s how it will be in July, and in the preseason, and at times. But it can be a challenge, and it is the kind of challenge only a veteran quarterback, or even one who is “borderline pushing” one can meet.
That’s where the Eagles’ franchise face is in training camp for a season where championship chatter is smothering hot.
He’s at the no-excuses point.
“I think it’s been solid progression so far,” Wentz reported. “There have been mistakes made. There have been mistakes offensively as a whole. Always, early in camp, there is some sloppy play. There’s false starts. There’s this and that. Communication stuff. Definitely, it’s never perfect. It’s not the way we want it to be.
“But I feel confident in the guys to just keep building and keep growing from here.”
Some Eagles have time to grow. All will have time to grow together. But one must be ready from the start, his growth period behind, the core of his career at hand.
Carson Wentz knows he is no longer the young guy. It didn’t seem to take long. It never does.