The Rise and Fall of Carson Wentz

Written by Thomas Brown

    USA TODAY Sports

    With the recent announcement that Jalen Hurts will become the starting quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles, it is time to answer the question, 'What actually happened to Carson Wentz?' This season, Wentz has started 12 games this season for the Eagles has produced just 16 passing touchdowns, which ranks in the bottom half of the NFL, and 15 interceptions, which is the most by any quarterback this season. With just three wins on the season to this point, the Eagles figured it would be best to bench Wentz potentially for the rest of the season. 

Carson Wentz's potential 

    Carson Wentz came into the league in 2016 as the number two overall pick drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles. His rookie campaign was nothing special with 16 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. However, he did record 3,782 passing yards that season, and went on to see production of over 10,000 passing yards, 81 touchdown passes, and just 21 interceptions over his next three seasons. Wentz was also ranked third on the NFL Top Players of 2018. He was even top-three in MVP voting in the 2018 season, which saw the Eagles win the Super Bowl with back-up quarterback, Nick Foles, while Wentz was recovering from an injury suffered in Week 14. Many analysts such as Dan Orlovsky loved his game and thought that he would be a top-tier quarterback for a long time. ESPN analyst and NFL Hall of Famer, Shannon Sharpe referred to Wentz as "Walk It To 'Em" Wentz, which comes from how catchable many of his throws were. However, this is where his potential ends.

Injuries 

    It is no secret that Carson Wentz has a long history with injuries that stems back to his college days. Through 5 seasons in the NFL, Wentz has played 16 games in a season only twice. However, most of the blame for his inability to stay on the field has to do with the Philadelphia Eagle's offensive line that has allowed Carson Wentz to be sacked a total of 179 times in just 68 games. (That breaks down to an average of almost three sacks a game. YIKES!) Also, there are many times where Carson has to escape pressure and use his legs to make a play because of an opposing defensive line being able to break down the Eagles offensive front. If a quarterback is continuously sacked, eventually they are going to sustain injuries that will pile up until the quarterback is diminished of most of his abilities. That is exactly what happened to Carson Wentz.

    When Wentz is on the field, many of his pass-catchers are often out with injuries. The following shows how many games Eagles wide-receivers have missed:

• DeSean Jackson (8)
• Alshon Jeffery (8)
• Jalen Reagor (5)

The receivers listed account for the first three wide-receiver spots in the depth chart, which means that usually Carson Wentz is throwing to a backup receiver. When a quarterback's starting receivers are not playing, they will usually struggle, and Carson Wentz has been no exception to that.

Inability to hold on to the football

    Wentz's fumbles and interceptions do not help with his struggles either. Over the course of his five year career, Wentz has thrown for at least 14 interceptions twice (2016 and 2020), and has lost 44 total fumbles. Though it can be argued that his offensive line is to blame for majority of his miscues, I have watched some Philadelphia Eagles games, and this is what I saw:

• Wentz holds the ball for too long, and often has to take a sack because his offensive line could not hold the defensive front forever.
• Wentz often ditches Philadelphia Eagles Head Coach, Doug Pederson's play-calling, which yields a forced throw by Wentz to a receiver who is covered. This often leads to either an incompletion or an interception.
• Carson Wentz seems to be playing like he has something to prove after the Eagles took Oklahoma and Alabama quarterback, Jalen Hurts, with their second round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. Many people had believed he was drafted to eventually replace Carson Wentz as the starter, especially due to his history with injuries.

    Though I am not necessarily a fan of Carson Wentz, I do not like to see any player that has worked hard to become a professional athlete struggle, especially someone as young as Carson Wentz. I do not see things working out in Philly, however, I do believe that he may be able to revive his career somewhere else.