NFL | Does it really matter if Eagles rookie QB Wentz plays in 2016?

by Jack Kerwin  |  ydkjack1@gmail.com

Kinda numb on the Carson Wentz drama.

Should he play or shouldn’t he? Should he sit or shouldn’t he?

Should he dress or shouldn’t he? Should he be encased in bubble wrap until 2017 or shouldn’t he?

At this point, not sure there is reason to care.

Not for nothing, but with a new coach, new staff, new makeup of personnel, new GM who happens to be the old GM and Sam “Ceiling Is Mediocre” Bradford back at the controls, even if only tenuously so, just what exactly are we looking at this upcoming Eagles season?

Can they even, well, break even?

Am all for developing young talent and usually aghast at how overprotective the Philly pro sports franchises are with keeping their “kids” on the low-risk, remedial track on advancement, forever failing to quash their own insecurities over the possibility of upsetting the delicate athletic geniuses.

But, gotta say, am a bit, um, lost in trying to build up any legitimate lather with regard to whether or not Wentz, the ballyhooed rookie quarterback on whom Howie Roseman, basically, has staked the rest of his NFL career, sees a single snap in live, red jersey-discarded action this fall. Heck, even during the ho-hum exhibition campaign.

That is Bradford’s time to shine anyway …

Point being, stuck in this state of the unknown, where a bad to middling near future seems far more likely than a more positive alternative, Wentz doesn’t seem to be in a position to evolve much anyway, regardless of what on-field opportunities he may or may not be given in 2016.

Was not a fan of his selection with the No. 2 overall pick of April’s draft. As has been documented often on this site, am not sold on his talent or the projections that have him making the jump from a pretty so-so career at college football’s second-best level to ultimately a star signal-caller at the most elite level there is.

Just don’t see that ever happening … and that would be under ideal conditions, whereby he, as a prospect who needs time to develop in safe, cocoon-like existence, actually could do so – without pressure mounting from outside forces and those within to get him on the field due to either anxiety mounting, the team flat-out sucking or the starter and backup in front of Wentz absolutely blowing.

The Eagles – still – have far too many question marks, particularly on offense, even with regard to the returning players, for Wentz’s introduction to the NFL being anything remotely close to ideal. What is he going to learn this season, that the talent around him isn’t so hot, that Doug Pederson was a shaky hire as coach, that the fans in town often have strange allegiances and then just as often switch them at the drop of a hat?

Hey, maybe it’ll change. With more than two months between now and the start of the regular season a lot could change. Some unknown talents may emerge. The defense shows signs that it is worthy of all the preseason hype and hope. Perhaps even Bradford does something more than display flashes of what made him the top pick of the 2010 NFL Draft.

Just wouldn’t necessarily bet the house on any of that happening, especially the last deal – which, more than likely, would be followed soon after by a season-ending injury that’d pave the way to Wentz’s premature arrival onto center stage.

Maybe then the numbness would wear off.  It certainly would be a time to start caring.

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Am all for developing young talent and usually aghast at how overprotective the Philly pro sports franchises are with keeping their “kids” on the low-risk, remedial track on advancement, forever failing to quash their own insecurities over the possibility of upsetting the delicate athletic geniuses. But, gotta say, am a bit, um, lost in trying to build up any legitimate lather with regard to whether or not Wentz, the ballyhooed rookie quarterback on whom Howie Roseman, basically, has staked the rest of his NFL career, sees a single snap in live, red jersey-discarded action this fall. Heck, even during the ho-hum exhibition campaign. That is Bradford’s time to shine anyway …