Lane Johnson sees something different in Carson Wentz this year

Something about Carson Wentz this offseason is giving Lane Johnson a good feeling about what’s to come in 2019.

The Philadelphia Eagles took a massive gamble this offseason. For the first time since the Donovan McNabb days, they locked in a quarterback with a long-term deal. Last month, the Eagles made Carson Wentz a one-hundred million dollar man. Despite the recent injury concerns in the previous two seasons, Wentz has still proven his worth as a quarterback.

By now, it’s no secret that Wentz is a good — borderline great quarterback, when healthy. But he has yet to prove that he can get the Eagles to the promise land. Being that he was out by the end of the year for the last two seasons, Wentz has yet to appear in a playoff game for the Birds. That’s why 2019 becomes such an essential season in Wentz’s career.

All distractions are out of Philly at this point for Wentz. Nick Foles’ legend lives on, but he’s creating a new legacy in Jacksonville for 2019 and beyond. There are no longer questions of whether Wentz is the franchise quarterback or not, since the Eagles locked him in with a long-term deal last month. And at this point in time, Wentz is fully healthy, so no question marks are surrounding any sort of rehab details or timetable for return.

Wentz can go into 2019 with his offense, and get back to just focusing on football. So far he’s done that, and apparently, he looks like a new and improved player/leader after an offseason of criticism. According to Wentz’s right tackle, Lane Johnson, there’s something different about the quarterback. Wentz seems more motivated, more focused, and more poised.

“I see a guy who is about to do some big things this season,” Johnson told NFL Network. If you can remember, the last time Johnson made a big prediction, it ended up coming true. Back in the 2017 offseason, Johnson was feeling a Super Bowl victory that year and even promised to get beer for the city of Philly if that were to happen. Well, let’s just say that Bud Light covered the tab on a sunny day in February of 2017, thanks to Johnson’s bold statement.

This year, he could be speaking something else into existence. As he sees a mentally strong Carson Wentz who is healthy and playing without a knee brace, which restricts him, the Eagles could be expecting their guy to get back to his MVP ways.

Obviously, talk is cheap in the offseason, but the hype is becoming more and more real from those who have witnessed Wentz first-hand this offseason. Could another MVP effort surface in 2019? We’ll see. But so far, we like what we are hearing from inside of the Nova Care Complex this offseason.