Carson Wentz has his flaws, but recent reports have been overblown
Is Carson Wentz actually a selfish quarterback behind the scenes?
There’s never a dull moment in the Philadelphia sports media market. When it comes to the Philadelphia Eagles, there always seems to be something to talk about. With the quarterback controversy created by everybody except for the Eagles themselves, we were expecting drama heading into this offseason. With 2017 Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles ready to walk off into the free agency market, and Carson Wentz getting the quarterbacks room all to himself once again, there was drama to be expected. However, the drama wasn’t what we pictured.
When Wentz was drafted to the Eagles back in 2016, the rookie quarterback had the city of Philadelphia in the palm of his hands. As soon as Sam Bradford was traded, Wentz was handed the keys to the kingdom, and the franchise was his.
Although Wentz had his struggled in 2016, there weren’t many doubters inside of the Philly fan base. It wasn’t until Carson Wentz visibly struggled at times in 2018 with the Super Bowl MVP on the bench behind him when everybody began to change their stance on the franchise quarterback.
Nowadays, the Eagles fan base is divided. Many want Foles to become the face of the team at 30-years-old, while others wish Foles would get on the first flight out of Philly because they feel like Wentz cannot succeed with Foles breathing down his neck. Just as the Eagles make it clear that they decided to stick with Wentz, a local reporter by the name of Joe Santoliquito released a story that details a ‘selfish’ quarterback that doesn’t seem to put the team first. That selfish quarterback happens to be the Eagles franchise front-runner, Carson Wentz.
Where does this report come from?
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Joe Santoliquito has been working on this piece about Wentz’s flaws for roughly two months now. According to the reporter, he has spoken to at least six players who remained unnamed. Apparently, six of those players believe that Carson Wentz is the reason why the Eagles struggled on offense this season.
It had nothing to do with the fact that first-time offensive coordinator Mike Groh has made it known that he and Doug Pederson have struggled to implement gameplans in attempt to use their best weapons.
And nevermind the fact that the offensive line was dealing with a few injuries by the time Wentz returned to the field. Oh, and we must mention that the Eagles have had almost no impact from their running game since their top two guys went down early on in the year.
All of that is beside the point though. In the eyes of Wentz’s anonymous teammates, No. 11 is the problem. Naturally, some of the Eagles biggest names immediately came to the defense of Wentz. Two guys, in particular, Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox, made it known that if anybody has a problem with the quarterback, and the acting captain then they should come to see them.
What should we believe?
Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson called the report ‘Fake News’ on Monday just hours after the initial story was released. While the piece seems way overblown, there are truths behind the report out in the open, and it doesn’t take an anonymous source to figure it all out. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Marcus Hayes, Wentz does in fact, have issues with stubbornness and going with the flow of the system. But this isn’t news.
The Eagles coaching staff has made it very clear while heading into the 2018 season that they need Carson Wentz to tone his game down a bit. Obviously, the main concern was for his safety, but it’s also to restrain the quarterback from playing recklessly. Sometimes, Wentz’s recklessness can lead to overthinking and making mistakes. We saw it during his rookie season, and we saw it a few times in 2018. It happens to quarterbacks who play the position as Wentz does.
"“He [Wentz] will always try to run the plays that he wants to run, even if his coaches or teammates don’t agree. He will always do what he thinks is best. And he might be not always be right. And he may not always be nice. But Wentz’s intentions will always be pure. He will always want to win, and he will always do everything he can to that end. That doesn’t make him controversial, or detrimental. Just human”"
At the end of the day, Wentz is just human. He will never have a perfect season. He won’t always satisfy everybody in the locker room, and that doesn’t make him any different in comparison to other quarterbacks in the league. Some of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game had minor issues in the locker room, and with coordinators.
I mean, Eagles fans do consider Tom Brady to be a diva, right? But you know what else he is? A proven Super Bowl champion and an MVP. That’s not to say that Wentz is like Tom Brady, but the Patriots quarterback has dealt with these similar issues throughout his career.
That didn’t seem to stop their dynasty as much as everybody thought it would. All supposed locker room drama aside, Wentz and the Eagles are going to be fine. The initial report had truth behind it, but it was also overblown. As the Eagles neighbors would say, “Trust the Process.” It’s going to be alright.