Long time Eagles fan, here is my rundown on Carson Wentz.
I'll start with Wentz the person/teammate.
Through 2018 he was widely considered a great guy, great teammate, hard worker. Then out of the blue in 2019 a local Philadelphia writer Joe Santoliquito put out a piece on Wentz that wasn't very positive. It had a lot of damning stuff in there from anonymous teammates and people in the organization who labeled him entitled and selfish. The city was very angry at this article and dubbed Joe as an attention-seeker and putting out a smear piece. Joe's home was vandalized for putting out the piece, which is wrong and awful, but it happened.
Since then there has been back and forth with some players coming out in defense of him. Mainly long-term veterans like Jason Kelce, Zach Ertz, and Lane Johnson. Guys widely regarded as the most prominent leaders and classiest guys on the team. However, leaks continued to come out. I want to be clear, no leaks ever said Wentz is a bad human being. No one has said he's a bad person. But stuff seems to come out about him just being a little immature, not in a childish way, but blaming other aspects of the recent shortcomings for his problems. Making excuses during film study, things like that. Not putting the onus on him.
What is true and what isn't remains a question of everyone in Philly. It's been kind of a whirlwind since that piece came out in early 2019. At the very least I think there's enough smoke there to say at least some of the gossip is true.
Wentz the player:
Wentz was impressive in 2016 and was just tremendous in 2017. His improvisational skills were off the charts, he was decisive, he had full command of the offense, he was elusive and knew when to take off and run and use his athleticism to run for first downs or buy time. Since he tore his ACL and then the year after hurt his back, the athleticism has declined. He just doesn't have that same explosiveness or elusiveness he displayed in 2017. In 2020 it was more alarming and it's odd because while he did get a concussion in the playoff game vs Seattle, he stayed healthy through the whole season in terms of his joints and such. But something about this season he looked slow and sluggish when he moved. He wasn't able to show any of that escapability he still displayed in 2019 even after the multiple injuries he suffered. In 2019 he was inconsistent through much of the season, but had a tremendous last month, playing with essentially practice squad players because of injuries. Granted, they didn't play the best of competition, but he still finished really strong nonetheless. He looked poised, confident, accurate, and decisive in December 2019.
His accuracy fell off a cliff in 2020, and Wentz's strongest attribute was never his accuracy. His mechanics are sloppy. He isn't naturally accurate to where he can deliver passes in stride off his back feet like other QBs can. If he gets the small things wrong, his accuracy suffers drastically. He often sails screen passes over a receiver's head by 10 yards. Overthrowns deep balls by a mile. But when he's out of the pocket he's very good. There's still some debate in Philly as to whether it's all physical or mental. How can he be that much better on the move and out of the pocket even when there's a defender in his face? Does him moving around cause him to stop overthinking things and just use his natural ability?
Wentz has always had a strong arm. When he's on target he can fire balls into tight windows with the best of em. He's made some amazing throws. When he looks agile and elusive he can make some highlight reel plays.
The question is, how much of his decline in 2020 was health, how much of it was the coaching, and how much of it was he just didn't want to be here? As I mentioned, Wentz never quite matched his 2017 play again, but something after that season just never looked right. Not even just physically. He'd made decisions he didn't use to make, and it all came to ahead in 2020 where he just completely went off the rails there, as he had always been a QB up to this point, who erred on the side of caution instead of making risky passes. Some speculate Foles winning the Super Bowl and taking over his team just bothered him mentally and he's been trying to overcompensate ever since. Some think the injuries caught up with him and he just isn't the same. Some think he just needs a fresh situation and to get away from this situation for him to put whatever is bothering him behind him and he can get back to when he was at his best.
If the Bears do end up getting him, I wish I could give you an honest opinion on if it's the right gamble or not for both teams. It may seem like a cop out, but this is truly one of the oddest situations I have ever covered being an Eagles fan for over 30 years. A guy who looks like he's ready to take the NFL by storm, suffers a major injury, watches a QB who's largely mediocre take over, play the best football of his life and win a Super Bowl, then get the job back and never quite look the same. Other odd things have gone on in the organization as well in terms of the front office, so it's not the best situation right now to succeed in. Regardless, if it is Chicago, I wish Carson the best. I've never had a problem with him.
I just wanted to offer some insight on him as someone who's watched every game he's played.
Best of luck.
www.bleachernation.com
