The Philadelphia Eagles gave up a great deal to move up in the NFL Draft for Carson Wentz, but it sounds like they have no intention of rushing the rookie along.
According to Eagles head coach Doug Pederson, Wentz would be the third-string quarterback behind Sam Bradford and Chase Daniel if the regular season began today. That means the former North Dakota State star would be inactive.
“Typically, the third quarterback is down,” Pederson said, via Jimmy Kempski of PhillyVoice.com. “It’s hard right now to look down the road, but if we had to play this week, Carson would be down. He’d be the third quarterback. He’d be deactivated. That’s probably the direction we’re heading, I would think is going that route. Obviously barring injury and, as you know, how this game is, but typically the third quarterback, whoever that is, is down on game day.”
The Eagles have said numerous times that Bradford is their starting quarterback, and Daniel played under Pederson last year when Pederson was the offensive coordinator in Kansas City. We’ve heard some good things about the way Wentz is playing this offseason, but it’s hard for any rookie to jump in and expect a significant role.
The idea is for Wentz to be the starting quarterback of the future, so there should be no hurry. As long as he can soak in as much information as possible and keep himself safe when using gas station bathrooms, Wentz should get a shot in no time.
