Birds’ brass makes it clear Wentz is their man at QB
PHILADELPHIA >> If you didn’t get the memos, Eagles head coach Doug Pederson and football operations chief Howie Roseman made it official during a joint end-of-the-season news conference Tuesday.
“Carson is the quarterback going forward,” Pederson said, referencing Carson Wentz. “And in Nick’s case, listen, we would love to have everybody back throughout the roster but as I’ve said many, many times, it’s not about one guy. It’s about the team and we’re going to do what’s best for the team.”
The Eagles are well aware that Nick Foles wants to be a starter somewhere. Bringing him back would create a pressure-packed situation for Wentz. Every bad pass and decision would be over-scrutinized. If the Eagles struggled, as they did this season, players would be knocking on Pederson’s door wondering why he didn’t switch quarterbacks.
Wentz also is eligible for a contract extension worth a ton of money. That deal alone could make it tough to keep other free agents like Brandon Graham and Golden Tate, among others.
Roseman downshifted into his “uh” gear when asked if the Eagles would begin contract talks with Wentz.
“Uh, we’re going to look, again, have a conversation with the coaching staff this week and talk about where we are and what we’re trying to do going forward,” Roseman said. “We haven’t had a lot of substance in those conversations. And because we want to have relationships with our players where we want to keep those talks close to the vest, I don’t think it would be helpful to talk to any player about what we want to do. But obviously it’s our job to keep as many good players here for as long as we can. In their prime, and guys we drafted, those are guys that are always going to be a focus for us.” Uh, right.
Make no mistake, the Eagles didn’t outright dismiss the possibility of keeping Wentz and Foles. Nor would you after taking a look at the X-rays of Wentz’s back. The stress fracture still hasn’t healed. It could be a chronic situation, as it was for former Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo.
So, Roseman left the door open for Foles, if only a crack.
With the Eagles likely to attempt a sign-and-trade of Foles, it was GM praise and double-speak all wrapped up in one burst.
“We would love to keep Nick Foles,” Roseman said. “You talk about a guy who we drafted here and we’ve grown incredibly close with. I don’t know a team that wouldn’t want to have Nick Foles on their roster. Certainly, as we go into the substance of those discussions — we haven’t had them yet. But there’s no question we love having Nick Foles as an Eagle in Philadelphia. And we’d love to keep him.”
A chunk of the presser was spent massaging the ego of Wentz, who was forced to shut it down after doing most of the work in leading the Eagles to a 6-7 record. To Wentz’s credit, he was firing BB’s in the fourth quarter of his final start. But the Eagles lost the coin flip and Dak Prescott marched the Dallas Cowboys to a touchdown in overtime.
Wentz was shelved when the Eagles said he had a fracture in his back that could take up to three months to heal. They kept him on the active roster just in case it improved enough for him to perhaps play had the Eagles made an extended playoff run. The season ended Sunday in a 20-14 loss to the New Orleans Saints in the divisional round of the NFC playoffs.
“We have a lot of confidence in Carson’s ability to be our quarterback and to be, hopefully, a 19-game starter in a season when we look at our season and what we’re trying to do,” Roseman said. “That being said, Coach from the day he came here, quarterback is always going to be a priority position for us. We’re always going to try to have talent at that position. We’ve got great quarterback teachers in this building. And we’re always going to be looking at that spot and trying to improve like any other spot. That’s important to our football team.”
Pederson said he thinks Wentz learned from watching the way Foles played in big games the past two postseasons. Foles guided the Eagles to playoff victories in four of their last five spots, earning MVP honors by winning a shootout with Tom Brady in Super Bowl LII.
Wentz, on the other hand, has to prove he can stay healthy enough to play in the second season. Then the Eagles will see if all of the mental reps did anything for the young man who has sat out a dozen games over the past two seasons, including four in the playoffs.
“I go back to the year 2017, when Carson had a full offseason,” Roseman said. “He was healthy, and was able to go through OTAs, and gather that timing and rhythm. And everything that led into the season and the MVP-type season he was having before the injury. Obviously, fast forward to last offseason and he didn’t have that. He didn’t have that offseason with his teammates. He was rehabbing. He was going through that process. He missed training camp. When you miss that time, it will affect the overall big picture of things. So, I think what you saw this season, as the season progressed, it got better and better. And his numbers got better, and the completion percentage got better.”
The bottom line is the Eagles were just 5-6 with Wentz and 4-1 with Foles during the 2018 regular season. And Foles came in cold, starting the last three games of the season.
Foles was 2-0 against teams with winning records, Wentz 1-5.
Hopefully, as Pederson said, winning isn’t about one guy for Eagles.