Philadelphia Eagles roundup: D-lineman signed, A date on Carson Wentz
The Philadelphia Eagles add even more depth to the defensive line, and we may actually have a target date for Carson Wentz.
In two days, we, literally, went from talks about placing Philadelphia Eagles starting quarterback Carson Wentz on the PUP list to even more discussion about him not having to be placed on said list after all. Then, faster than you could say ‘Fly Eagles Fly’, we had a target date for his official return to the playing field.
As it stands right now, Philly’s franchise signal caller and MVP candidate is eyeing a return in the September 6th season opener versus the Atlanta Falcons. That’s when ‘The Birds’ will, officially, drop the banner at Lincoln Financial Field.
Here’s a tweet from Eagles Insider Dave Spadaro:
@cj_wentz aiming toward September 6 opener, but doesn’t want to rush the plan. “I like where we’re at right now. We have a good plan.” Needs to be cleared for contact next
— Dave Spadaro (@EaglesInsider) July 26, 2018
ESPN’s Tim McManus talked a little about this on Thursday. Here’s some of what QB1 said after Philly’s first practice of training camp:
"That was kind of the plan that we put in place throughout the summer, just build to that. I was excited just to be out there today and run around with the guys. It was the first time out there with guys kind of all around me, but you do some things in rehab to kind of get used to that… Mentally, I feel like I’ve been getting through it really well."
The next step is getting QB1 ready for contact and getting him cleared there. Don’t get too fixated on dates though. So far, Eagles head coach Doug Pederson has been non-committal on when we can expect to see Wentz back in action.
The Birds add some defensive line depth.
On the other side of the ball, Philly added a defensive lineman on Friday, signing an undrafted rookie free agent, defensive tackle Adam Reth from Northern Iowa. He was in uniform and practicing Friday.
For those who need a bit of an introduction, here’s a little of what happened during his collegiate career after taking a redshirt in 2013. All of this is courtesy of the UNI Panthers’ official website:
2014:
"Saw action in all 14 games on the defensive line … finished the season with 20 tackles, including 4.0 TFL and 2.0 sacks … recorded a career-high four solo tackles, including one sack against Northern Colorado (9/20) … had two tackles against Western Illinois (10/25) … matched his career-high of four tackles in UNI’s win over Southern Illinois (11/15)."
2015:
"Started in 12 games on the defensive line … recorded 59 tackles on the season, including 36 solo and 23 assisted … finished 2015 with 3.5 tackles for loss that included three sacks … had two pass breakups, one quarterback hurry and a fumble recovery.."
As a senior, he tallied 79 tackles (ten resulted in a loss of yardage). He also registered three sacks. It’s hard to imagine a scenario where he makes the team, but we’ve been wrong before.