Philadelphia Eagles: Carson Wentz has chance to become new leader

With a couple key veterans and others singing elsewhere in free agency, Carson Wentz has officially become the leader of the Philadelphia Eagles heading into the 2020 season.

Ever since Nick Foles took over for an injured Carson Wentz to lead the Philadelphia Eagles to their first (and only) Super Bowl title during the 2017 season, there always seemed to be an immense pressure for the former first-round pick to step up and become the leader on offense.

Unfortunately, this process was going to be easier said than done, and wasn’t something that would just happen overnight.

Facing unimaginable scrutiny from fans, media, and the NFL community at large, Wentz was put in a nearly impossible position, despite being the front-runner for MVP in 2017 before being injured.

As crazy as it sounds, Wentz was basically an earlier version of Patrick Mahomes with the numbers he was putting up for Philadelphia’s offense before that devastating injury took place.

On a positive note, last season was a major step in the right direction from a leadership perspective for Wentz and the Eagles.

With Foles out of town along with every running back and wide receiver (amongst others) basically injured, Wentz somehow managed to rally the troops to help Philadelphia secure the NFC East title.

Now granted, the old saying goes that in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king, which perfectly describes last year’s NFC East.

However, when you factor in that Wentz was basically throwing to new players every week while Doug Pederson and company were developing game plans from scratch, it was still a remarkable feat.

Then against the Seattle Seahawks in the Wild Card Round, with Wentz finally starting a playoff game, he left in the first quarter with a concussion. It was another (unfair) blow for Wentz’s perceived leadership skills.

This offseason though, Howie Roseman and the Eagles quietly made sure that it can never be denied that the Eagles are Wentz’s team.

The team let the two undisputed leaders of the locker room the last few years, Jason Peters and Malcolm Jenkins, walk in free agency. Nelson Agholor also left to sign with the Las Vegas Raiders, who was the subject of both media (and alleged locker room) turmoil.

Jenkins returned to the New Orleans Saints, and while Peters may be back given his age and lack of suitors so far, it was still a significant testimonial in the Eagles’ faith in Wentz as their leader.

While the exit of Jenkins left a sour taste in the mouths of many, the team wanted to get younger on both sides of the football.

This is primarily due to the physicality of the game. It’s also so that the mixture of young players on the roster, acquisitions that were brought in, and veterans that are already bought in can grow as players with Wentz guiding them on that journey.

With the Eagles doing everything in their power to build a team around Wentz and making sure the shadow of Foles gets smaller and smaller, the seasons to come should be much smoother sailing with a crew that’s bought in.

Most importantly, the Eagles will have their quarterback in Wentz as the unequivocal captain moving forward, and there are plenty of reasons to believe he will thrive in his new role.