By Art Beitchman
The Eagles made a very bold move over the Labor Day weekend, just eight days before the their Sept. 11 NFL opener versus the Cleveland Browns at the Linc:
They shipped underachieving, injury-prone starting QB Sam Bradford to the Minnesota Vikings.
But the real news was they were able to get the Vikes to pony up a No. 1 draft choice in 2017 and a No. 4 in 2018.
The Vikings were over a barrel, desperately needing a competent quarterback after starter Teddy Bridgewater went down with a season-ending knee injury.
Enter the Eagles’ Carson Wentz era.
Bradford was just keeping the job warm until Wentz was ready to take over, and if the Bridgewater injury hadn’t occurred Bradford would still be in Philly.
But that plan changed, and evidently head coach Doug Pederson and his offensive staff have the confidence Wentz can thrive on opening day and the rest of his rookie season, otherwise I don’t believe they would have pulled the trigger on the trade.
As the job was handed over to him by Pederson, Wentz proclaimed “I’m confident in myself, I’m confident in this football team”.
There is recent precedent for the Eagles to lean on a rookie starting QB.
Just last season Jameis Winston started all 16 games for the Tampa Bay Bucs, throwing 22 TD’s with 15 interceptions for 4,042 yards.
Marcus Mariota was also thrown right into the fire by the Tennessee Titans, playing 12 games, good for 19 TD’s and 10 picks.
In today’s NFL, quarterbacks coming right out of college are more ready for the rigors and complexities of running an NFL offense, and Wentz will have growing pains just as every new QB has entering the big boy football league.
Ready or not, Carson Wentz will open the 2016 season for the Eagles Sunday afternoon, 1pm at Lincoln Financial Field.
