Doug Pederson has been pretty clear when it comes to Carson Wentz.
He wants to give the young quarterback a chance to learn how to play in the NFL. That likely means the No. 2 overall pick will be holding a clipboard when the Eagles' season starts in September.
Wentz, since he arrived to Philly, has been the clear No. 3 quarterback behind Sam Bradford and Chase Daniel. The third quarterback typically isn’t active on game day. Not a huge revelation, but it is noteworthy when the third quarterback is the No. 2 pick.
Earlier in the offseason, one local writer opined Wentz would be inactive on game day. Probably not a huge deal, but for some reason, several national outlets ran with the story and this whole "Chicken Little" — The sky is falling! The sky is falling! The first-round pick won't dress! — scenario unfolded.
But, at least for now, it appears Wentz will be inactive once the season starts. In fact, in a pre-training camp media session in June, Pederson said he was leaning that way.
“Typically, the third quarterback is down,” Pederson said. “And it’s hard right now, I think, 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, barring injury, and you know how this game is. But typically, the third quarterback, whoever that is, is down on game day.”
During the spring, Bradford was the first-string quarterback, followed by Daniel and then Wentz. While they competed in that order, reps were split pretty evenly among the three. That’s eventually going to change. Eventually, once the season begins to approach more rapidly, Bradford will need the majority of snaps, followed by Daniel.
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What does that mean for Wentz? Well, we’re not sure yet. But, at least, for now, it appears Wentz is entrenched as the team’s third-stringer. The real test will come if Bradford doesn’t stay healthy. If he’s out, it’s not hard to imagine a scenario where Wentz won't be given a chance to overtake Daniel to scoop away the starting job.
If that happens and Wentz plays well, he might not let it go.
But that’s getting ahead of ourselves, especially because Pederson has gone out of his way to name Bradford the starter. And he did it a long time ago.
Why?
“I think the reasoning is the fact that I wanted Sam on this roster, even way back when I was hired,” Pederson said. “And one of the first things I did was evaluate his game last year and really liked what I saw. All intentions were, and are, that he comes in being the No. 1, being the starter. My feelings haven’t changed there whatsoever.”