It’s early in Carson Wentz’s first summer as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles. The No. 2 overall pick in this year’s NFL draft has a long way to go before he can be considered a legitimate quarterback in the league.
That likely won’t come as a rookie, and may not even take place during his second season in the NFL.
For Philadelphia, the decision to give up the house in order to move up to the second spot and select the former North Dakota State star was more about the long term.
Despite this, early reviews from Eagles camp have been surprisingly positive for the small-school product.
It was reported earlier this week that Wentz is learning the team’s new offense under first-year head coach Doug Pederson quicker than veteran Sam Bradford (more on that here).
Whether that’s more of a dig at Bradford or some sort of a boon for Wentz is anyone’s guess.
Though, recent comments from Eagles quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo really do seem to paint the rookie in a positive light.
“I don’t want to say there’s anything that surprised me,” DeFilippo said Wednesday, via Philly.com. “I think there were some things that I thought he would need a little more work with it than he does. He’s further along from a seeing-the-field standpoint than I thought he would be. He’s further along from a playing speed standpoint than I thought he would be coming from the FCS level. Those are things that I guess you can say I’m pleasantly surprised with, but not shocked.”
On one hand, it would make little sense for an Eagles coach to throw his rookie quarterback under the bus, especially after the team selected him so high back in April.
On the other hand, there is a telling quote from DeFilippo above. The coach is correct in assuming that there would be a larger learning curve for Wentz coming from such a small school where he played against vastly inferior competition.
If Wentz is performing at a high rate when it comes to picking up the speed and nuance of the NFL game, that only bodes well for his success down the road.
While it still has to be concluded that Bradford will be Philadelphia’s starter when the 2016 season kicks off, Wentz surely can make it a competition during the summer.
A combination of Bradford’s unwillingness to honor his new two-year, $35 million contract during the spring and Wentz’s surprising on-field performance could make the Eagles’ decision a bit more difficult moving forward.