Carson Wentz

NFC East Notes: Eagles, Cowboys, Giants

March 1st, 2017 at 9:00pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

The Eagles are entering free agency in need of help at wide receiver. Fortunately for them, “several” unsigned wideouts regard the idea of playing with Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz as intriguing, according to Tim McManus of ESPN.com. Unsurprisingly, one of those players is the Redskins’ DeSean Jackson, who has made it clear he’d be open to returning to Philadelphia, where he starred from 2008-13. “Carson Wentz, he came in and had a heck of the year as a rookie. I don’t think a lot of people saw that coming,” Jackson told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The 30-year-old added that Wentz “has all the intangibles in being a big-time quarterback in this league.”

NFC Notes: 49ers, Eagles, Seahawks, Cowboys

January 24th, 2017 at 8:27pm CST by Ben Levine

49ers fans have been waiting for the better part of a month for the organization to hire their next head coach and general manager. The team will seemingly have to wait at least another two weeks to hire frontrunner Kyle Shanahan from the Falcons, and they may be waiting a bit longer to bring in a new general manager.

On Tuesday, CEO Jed York preached patience when it comes to the team’s hirings.

“The message is we’re going to re-establish a championship culture,” York said (via Cam Inman of The Mercury News). “We’re not going to do that by filling a job quickly. We need to be patient. We need to be willing to wait.

“And when we get the right people, we’ll start putting everything into place.”

Let’s take a look at some more notes from around the NFC…

Last offseason, the Eagles dealt with some turmoil when quarterback Sam Bradford was upset following the team’s draft selection of Carson Wentz. This offseason, the front office is hoping to be completely transparent with their franchise signal-caller. “The way the league rules are, you’d love to be able to bring him down and throw to these guys,” said vice president of football operations Howie Roseman (via Jimmy Kempski of PhillyVoice.com). “That would be unbelievable. It just doesn’t work that way. But from our perspective, we want to make sure that he’s on board with some of these things, and he’s looking at some … probably more in free agency than in the draft, because it’s hard for him to get caught up on the draft prospects.”
The Eagles traded former second-round pick Eric Rowe to the Patriots earlier this season, and the cornerback proceeded to start seven games for the AFC champs. Roseman provided some logic for cutting bait on the promising defensive back. “When we sat down and discussed the offer, we really started thinking about the likelihood that we had to sign him to an extension,” Roseman said (via Reuben Frank of CSNPhilly.com).“We want to build this team with some continuity. We felt at that time that we were not going to sign him to an extension and to be able to get that value for him and possibly add someone who would be here for a longer period of time made sense for where we were. ” Rowe’s contract expires following the 2018 season.
Perrish Cox‘s new one-year contract with the Seahawks is worth $855K, reports ESPN.com’s Sheil Kapadia. The cornerback’s initial cap hit is $680K, and he’ll earn $443K if he suffers an injury prior to the start of the regular season.
Cowboys CEO Stephen Jones said his team would like to keep free agent wideouts Terrance Williams and Brice Butler (via Brandon George of The Dallas Morning News on Twitter). Williams had one of his least-productive seasons in 2016, but he still finished the campaign with 44 receptions for 594 yards and four touchdowns. Butler, a former seventh-round pick, finished the season with 16 receptions for 219 yards and three touchdowns.
Jones also passed along that Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence will need back surgery for the second straight offseason (via George on Twitter). The former second-round pick has only played in 32 games over his three seasons in the NFL, including nine games (three starts) in 2016.

Veteran Browns Scouts Preferred Wentz

September 18th, 2016 at 10:21am CST by Rory Parks

Only one full week of the 2016 season is in the books, but Browns fans, eminently familiar with pain and suffering, are already finding more evidence to prove that their team is cursed. Cleveland, of course, passed on the chance to draft Carson Wentz with the No. 2 overall pick in this year’s draft, instead choosing to trade the selection and to roll with Robert Griffin III and Josh McCown under center. But Wentz excelled in his professional debut against the Browns last week and RGIII found himself on IR again, so it is easy to understand the frustrations coming from the Dawg Pound.

But that may not be the worst of it. According to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, the Browns parted with several of their more seasoned scouts and evaluators prior to the draft–an usual time for such dismissals–and a number of those men actually preferred Wentz to Jared Goff and considered the North Dakota State product to be the more promising prospect. Of course, chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta, along with head coach Hue Jackson and OC Pep Hamilton, preferred Goff, and at the time the pro-Wentz scouts were dismissed, the club was already shopping its second-overall pick to other teams, since it became clear that the Rams were going to use the No. 1 overall pick on Goff.

It is not uncommon, of course, for there to be disagreement among a team’s talent evaluators, and the fact that some Cleveland scouts preferred Wentz would not ordinarily be newsworthy. But the fact that a pro-Wentz group that included former general managers and personnel directors was let go at such a strange time–even if they were going to be dismissed anyway during the team’s efforts to downsize later on in 2016–is only going to add fuel to the fire of the organization’s detractors.

If the Browns again find themselves near the top of the draft board in 2017, La Canfora believes they will almost have to take a quarterback, with Notre Dame’s DeShone Kizer and Clemson’s Deshaun Watson currently heading the list of signal-callers expected to be available.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

NFC Notes: Wentz, Johnson, Palmer, Giants

September 17th, 2016 at 9:29pm CST by Sam Robinson

Further illustrating the Eagles‘ belief in Carson Wentz and their motivation to make the seminal trade with the Browns in April, new Philadelphia OC Frank Reich offered some high-end comparisons for the No. 2 overall pick.

“Physically, he reminds me a little bit of a combination of Andrew Luck — though, I’ve never played with him — just watching him play, but a guy that I did play with in Jim Kelly, the size, strength and just the toughness,” Reich said, via Matt Lombardo of NJ.com.

Wentz ran a tenth of a second slower in the 40-yard dash compared to Luck coming out of college (4.77 seconds to 4.67), but the quarterbacks are similar in size — both 6-foot-5 and around 235 pounds. The younger player will attempt to build on his breakthrough debut, one executed despite scant preseason reps and the anticipation he’d be the third-string passer.

Here’s more on Wentz’s potential rise and on some other NFC teams.

The Eagles trading Sam Bradford to the Vikings opened the door not only for Wentz to receive an early start on Sundays, but it cleared a path toward endless practice reps instead of a short-term future as Philly’s third-stringer, Jeff McLane of Philly.com writes. Reich told media, including McLane, there was “no question” the additional practice work would accelerate Wentz’s development compared to a season spent behind Bradford and Chase Daniel. Per McLane, Wentz did not speak up much in quarterback meetings while he was the No. 3 quarterback, instead deferring to the veterans. Daniel functions as the scout-team quarterback, and the meetings are geared around a Wentz-conducted offense.
Doug Pederson expected to hear something on Lane Johnson‘s lingering suspension by now, Reuben Frank of CSNPhilly.com notes, but the league has yet to announce the expected 10-game ban. “You would think you would have heard something by now,” Pederson said. “If it does happen down the road, it just pushes everything back. Me personally, I’d rather know now than later. But until then, [Johnson] is the guy.” Pederson said Stefen Wisniewski would play left guard after current starter Allen Barbre swings to right tackle in the event Johnson’s ruling comes down. Wisniewski usurped Isaac Seumalo as the next guard up since the Eagles initially announced their Johnson contingency plan.
Earlier today, a potential Panthers plot to select Blaine Gabbert No. 1 overall emerged in advance of Sunday’s Panthers-49ers game. The Buccaneers‘ Week 2 opponent, the Cardinals, also employ a quarterback who will face a team that pursued him years ago. The Bucs attempted to trade for Palmer in 2013, but refusing to push then-starter Josh Freeman to a backup role did not make it an enticing fit for the then-Raiders quarterback as he looked for a team and a long-term deal, Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times writes, analyzing what could have been in advance of Sunday’s tilt. The Bucs joined the Cardinals and Bills in making a push for a then-33-year-old Palmer’s services. Then-Tampa Bay coach Greg Schiano wasn’t enamored with Freeman, but the organization did not want to give up on the former first-round pick by automatically making Palmer a starter. Freeman lasted just three games into the ’13 season before being released.
The Giants worked out four linebackers on Saturday after cutting Deontae Skinner from their practice squad. Cassanova McKinzy, Deiontrez Mount, Eric Pinkins and Myke Tavarres worked out for the team, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports.

Browns Notes: RG3, McCown, Thomas, West

September 15th, 2016 at 9:02pm CST by Sam Robinson

While Robert Griffin III‘s shoulder injury serves as a significant detriment to his hopes at resurrecting his once-promising career, some with the Browns don’t view it as too damaging to their current team. With Hue Jackson focused on reprogramming Griffin into an above-average quarterback, some Browns staffers view the injury as something that can help the franchise move on and begin assessing its future at the position, Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com report.

Browns sources told the veteran reporters third-round pick Cody Kessler is “not close” to being ready to debut, and expectations for the USC product aren’t particularly high. So, as 37-year-old Josh McCown prepares to return to the starting lineup, the team will continue to scout for its future. Should Kessler make a start this season, he’ll be the franchise’s 26th starting quarterback since its 1999 rebirth. That total leads the league.

Interestingly, the new regime’s last such scouting job revealed a dislike for two of the league’s hot-starting passers, Carson Wentz and Dak Prescott, while Cleveland’s new decision-makers liked Griffin, Kessler and Jared Goff, per Schefter and Mortensen.

Here’s more from Cleveland as its football team prepares to play the old Browns in Week 2.

McCown offered a reasonable plea, per Schefter and Mortensen, against the notion the Browns should tank for 2017 this season. The veteran quarterback and second-year Brown believed the team owed it to veterans like Joe Thomas to make a legitimate effort to compete in 2016.
Thomas, meanwhile, did not push the Browns to trade him to the Broncos last season due to the loyalty they showed him since making him the No. 3 overall pick in 2007, the ESPN duo reports. The six-time All-Pro’s name could well resurface on the trade block this season if the Browns perform as they’re expected to, especially since so few veterans are going to play for them this season.
Speaking of trades, former Browns running back Terrance West asked the team to be traded before last season, West said on the BmoreOpinionated podcast (via Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal). The Browns’ previous regime did end up trading West to the Titans, although it’s not known if it came as a result of the running back’s request. The current Ravens ball-carrier believes he’d still be with the Browns if he hadn’t asked to be dealt. “I think if I didn’t call for a trade, I would be still in Cleveland right now,” West said. “I was the leading rusher that year. I was the leading rusher in that preseason. I called for a trade. I didn’t think that was home for me.” West, though, saw the Titans cut him after he made only 16 rushing attempts last season. Ulrich writes attitude problems and shaky practice habits marred the former third-round pick’s time in Cleveland. He’s set to play a bigger role this season, as evidenced by the Ravens giving him 14 touches in Week 1. West rushed for 673 yards as a rookie to lead the Browns as a rookie in 2014, ahead of current starter Isaiah Crowell‘s 607.
While Jackson’s initial effort in northeast Ohio isn’t expected to go well, the first-year coach made some bold proclamations about the franchise’s future.

Eagles Notes: Johnson, Wentz, Fullbacks

September 10th, 2016 at 4:03pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Eagles are entering their Week 1 matchup with the Browns in an interesting position on their offensive line. Since the NFL has yet to announce the expected suspension for Lane Johnson, the team shelved a plan that included an alternate route at right tackle and will instead start Johnson on Sunday, Les Bowen of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

“Getting ready to play, man,” Johnson told media after Friday’s practice. “I didn’t think this day would come. This has been the biggest mental hurdle of my career.”

Johnson faces a 10-game suspension after his A sample tested positive for a banned substance. The delay for the league appears to stem from the results of his B sample not being retrieved. The fourth-year tackle intends to appeal any suspension, and with that process taking as many as several weeks, he may be available longer than expected this season. However, the loss of an appeal could sideline Johnson during more second-half games than anticipated since the ban won’t be starting Week 1 as he anticipated.

Here’s the latest coming out of Philly.

Hours before the Eagles’ third preseason game, wide receiver Jordan Matthews told Howie Roseman that Carson Wentz was ready to see play now instead of being a quarterback-in-waiting, Zach Berman of the Inquirer reports. The rookie was then relegated to personal throwing sessions while recovering from injury, and while the third-year pass-catcher’s statement probably wouldn’t have proved as significant for the purposes of Week 1 had Teddy Bridgewater not gone down, the comment looks somewhat prescient now that Wentz is the starter and Sam Bradford‘s in Minnesota.
Some in the Eagles’ organization are surprised by the Browns’ comments regarding Wentz, Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. Paul DePodesta recently revealed the Browns’ brass did not consider the North Dakota State product a potential top-20 NFL quarterback, and young defenders Carl Nassib and Ibraheim Campbell respectively called Wentz’s delivery and inexperience into question this week after it became known he would start the season for the Eagles. Wentz had read DePodesta’s comments before he was named the Eagles’ starter, Cabot writes.
It doesn’t look like Doug Pederson‘s offense will be housing a pure fullback for a while, Dave Zangaro of CSNPhilly.com writes. The team cut potential options Ryan Mueller and Chris Pantale. Many teams obviously go without pure fullbacks in today’s NFL, but the Andy Reid– and Pederson-run Chiefs employed one in Anthony Sherman during the three seasons that duo coordinated Kansas City’s attack. The Eagles have Andrew Bonnet on their practice squad and could use third tight end Trey Burton there, per new OC Frank Reich.
Earlier today, former Eagles running back Brian Westbrook said some Philadelphia veterans aren’t on board with the Bradford trade.

Eagles Veterans Unhappy With Sam Bradford Trade?

September 10th, 2016 at 12:06pm CST by Ben Levine

The Eagles decision to trade Sam Bradford to the Vikings seemed to make sense on paper. The team received a haul for the quarterback, and they had second-overall pick Carson Wentz waiting in the wings. However, as Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com notes, several of the team’s veterans weren’t happy with the front office’s decision to trade Bradford.

Former Eagles running back Brian Westbrook appeared on PFT Live recently to discuss the move. Westbrook noted that the team’s decision to opt for a rookie quarterback may indicate that the organization isn’t serious about competing in 2016.

“I kind of feel for those veterans like Jason Peters and Malcolm Jenkins, because I know and I was in the situation,” Westbrook said. “I had Donovan McNabb my entire career in Philadelphia but at some point they benched Donovan McNabb when we were in Baltimore and they put in Kevin Kolb. You just wonder, ‘OK, what are we doing here?’ Because we felt right now we had one of the better quarterbacks in the league in Donovan on the bench.

“It’s a little bit different situation with Sam Bradford because he hasn’t been one of the better quarterbacks on that same type of level as Donovan but if I’m on this football team here in Philadelphia right now and I’m a veteran I’m saying, ‘Well, hold on, timeout. We’re building for the future but that future does not necessarily include me and I have a problem with that.’ It’s good for the organization but not necessarily good for those veteran guys and so I would be a little disappointed.”

Well, that would seem like normal hyperbole, but Florio made a point of asking Westbrook outright whether some current Eagles had an issue with the trade.

“Definitely,” Westbrook said. “There’s no doubt about it and I’ve talked to a few guys that have expressed that. A few guys have said, ‘We’re trying to win this year because I don’t know if I’m going to play next year and I’m definitely not sure if I’m going to be able to be in Philadelphia next year. So as much as we want this young guy Carson Wentz to be successful we’re concerned about winning this year. We’re concerned about winning now.’ …

“I think that there’s an understanding from the fans, the coaching staff as well as the front office that, ‘Hey, we’re going to need to take some time to build this thing the right way.’ Unfortunately for some of the older players, some of the veteran players, that doesn’t necessarily mesh with what your goal is as far as winning right now.”

For what it’s worth, Bradford led his team to a 7-7 record in his 14 starts in 2015 (albeit in an entirely different scheme). The 28-year-old actually had one of his more productive NFL seasons, compiling a career-high 3,725 passing yards to go along with 19 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.

Browns Didn’t View Wentz As Top 20 QB

September 6th, 2016 at 8:43am CST by Zachary Links

This offseason, the Browns had an opportunity to stand pat with the No. 2 pick in the draft and potentially solve their quarterback situation for years to come. However, in April, the Browns struck a deal with the Eagles to add to their stockpile of picks. Everyone assumed that the Browns were not sold on Carson Wentz, but it turns out their evaluation of the North Dakota State QB was harsher than you might expect. Also, as executive Paul DePodesta hinted to Tony Grossi of ESPN.com, the Browns might have kept the pick if they thought Jared Goff would slip.

“We have to make judgments on the individual players and we’re not always going to be right,” DePodesta said. “But in this particular case, we just didn’t feel it was necessarily the right bet to make for us at this time. Again, it comes down to individual evaluation of a player…Even though you have a desperate need for [a quarterback], you have to resist the temptation of taking that guy just because you have a need if you don’t believe he’s one of those 20 guys at the end of the day. I think that’s the hardest part, just maintaining your discipline because you have the need. That’s what we did this year.”

Soon enough, we’ll know whether the Browns’ signing of Robert Griffin III was a smart move. But, regardless of how RGIII does in Cleveland this year, DePodesta says the team will continue to evaluate options at quarterback. That’s probably the right approach as Griffin will be the Browns’ 25th starting quarterback since 1999.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Carson Wentz To Start Eagles’ Opener

September 5th, 2016 at 10:35am CST by Connor J. Byrne

MONDAY, 10:35am: Doug Pederson announced that Wentz would indeed be starting the Eagles’ season opener (via The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Zach Berman on Twitter).

SATURDAY, 12:07pm: It appears the Carson Wentz era will begin much earlier than expected in Philadelphia. As long as Wentz has recovered from his rib injury by Week 1, he’ll start the Eagles’ opener against the Browns, reports Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Wentz missed nearly all of the preseason after suffering a hairline fracture in his ribs during the Eagles’ exhibition opener Aug. 11.

Wentz, for whom the Eagles moved up in the draft to pick second overall, was not supposed to play much of a role this year with both Sam Bradford and Chase Daniel ahead of him on the club’s depth chart. However, that changed when the Eagles traded Bradford to the Vikings on Saturday for multiple draft choices, including a first-round pick next year.

Daniel, meanwhile, isn’t happy with the Eagles’ decision to turn to Wentz, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL.com (on Twitter). The longtime backup with the Saints and Chiefs joined the Eagles on a three-year deal in free agency during the winter, but he failed to impress in the preseason and will now serve as a reserve to Wentz, an ex-North Dakota State star.

Photo via PFR on Instagram.

East Rumors: Johnson, Wentz, Dolphins

August 13th, 2016 at 3:49pm CST by Sam Robinson

Lane Johnson became embroiled in a debate with the NFLPA regarding the nature of the 10-game suspension he faces. But the Eagles‘ fourth-year right tackle expects that ban to stick regardless, Dave Zangaro of CSNPhilly.com reports, and be out until November.

The recently extended lineman, who previously tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2014, claimed he was taking an amino acid he purchased online and the app the NFLPA provides for players to gauge whether or not a supplement will result in a positive drug test informed him he was in the clear. Standing to see the guarantees in his $56MM+ contract void if he’s suspended for a second time, Johnson asserted the NFLPA isn’t fully behind its constituents regarding this issue.

“I want that to be clear that the NFLPA does not stand up for players. They don’t check the supplements,” said Johnson, who added the Eagles probably wouldn’t test the supplement if he brought it to them for financial reasons. “They give us an app, and then when you call them and ask them if you test positive for something they approve, it doesn’t matter.”

NFLPA spokesman George Atallah denied Johnson was approved to take the supplement. The Aegis Shield app, as Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk points out, isn’t a surefire safety precaution due to supplements at times containing substances not included on the product’s label.

“We always stand up for the rights of our players,” Atallah said in a statement. “Mr. Johnson’s statements are factually inaccurate and we have been in touch with both Lane and his agent, who now understand the facts. The NFLPA does not approve any supplements or substances.”

The Eagles appear set to lose their right tackle for much of 2016 while also could be without their rookie quarterback until the regular season starts.

Carson Wentz suffered a hairline fracture in his ribs during Philadelphia’s preseason opener and could miss the rest of the preseason, Zach Berman of Philly.com reports. The No. 2 overall pick sustained the injury on the second-to-last play of his debut outing, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com notes (on Twitter).
Dolphins coaches have viewed Dallas Thomas‘ training camp work as superior to Laremy Tunsil‘s, hence the veteran receiving the call to start on Friday night in the team’s preseason opener, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports. A fourth-year Fins guard, Thomas started every game last season. But Jackson writes the Dolphins shouldn’t be withholding first-team reps from Tunsil since he’s likely going to get the call there once the regular season begins.
Miami’s brass told free agents they intended to use Cameron Wake as a pass-rush specialist this season, Jackson reports. Despite signing the 34-year-old defensive end to an extension, Wake could be set for an off-the-bench role. Dolphins staffer Nat Moore expects Jason Jones to start alongside Mario Williams. Wake is coming off a torn Achilles that resulted in him playing just seven games in 2015, the first season of Wake’s NFL career featuring fewer than 14 appearances. Wake’s started 85 of the 100 Dolphins contests he’s suited up for, including every such appearance since 2012.
Check out the details of Tyrod Taylor‘s complex extension with the Bills.
Patriots president Jonathan Kraft provided some detailed reasoning for why the team traded Chandler Jones.

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