Jason Peters Believes Former Teammate Carson Wentz Can Get Back to MVP-Caliber Play
The man who protected Carson Wentz's blindside for five years in Philadelphia still has his former teammate's back now that Wentz has moved on to Indianapolis.
Recently, Jason Peters, Wentz's former left tackle with the Philadelphia Eagles, spoke with SiriusXM NFL Radio and gave his thoughts on Wentz moving on to the Indianapolis Colts as well as addressing the Eagles' quarterback situation that jumpstarted Wentz's exit from Philadelphia.
Peters spoke highly about Wentz's trade to the Colts, predicting that reuniting with Colts head coach Frank Reich, who was the Eagles' offensive coordinator from 2016-17, is likely what helps turn Wentz's career around.
One thing I do know about Frank, he's gonna put Carson in the best position. He's not gonna let him just go out there and have bad mechanics or just go out there and throw bad balls. He's gonna put him in the best spots. He's gonna correct him when he's wrong, and vice versa. They're gonna communicate with each other and all that good stuff.
I think Frank's gonna bring the best out of Carson because I've seen it when we were on the Super Bowl run. Them two there was great together, and that's a good fit for Carson. I think he's gonna get back to his MVP caliber of play.
Wentz got off to a great start in Philadelphia as a rookie in 2016 and then took a big step forward in 2017. He was considered the NFL's MVP front-runner before suffering a torn ACL that ended his season after 13 games.
The Eagles would go on to win the Super Bowl, and Wentz was named Second-Team All-Pro and a Pro Bowler.
Wentz carried respectable statistics the next two seasons — averaging 66.8% completions, 3,556.5 passing yards, 24.0 touchdowns, and just 7.0 interceptions — despite the Eagles posting a record of 14-13.
In 2020, things crumbled further, as Wentz played the worst season of his career before being benched after 12 games for rookie Jalen Hurts.
Peters gave insight into the Eagles' 2020 quarterback situation, acknowledging Hurts gave the team more energy although they hadn't been losing because of Wentz.
I felt the energy when Jalen came in because he's the type of guy who's got swagger to him. He's got leadership. He demands your eyes — when he's calling a play he wants you to look in his eyes and look at his mouth and understand what he's calling. When he's in the huddle, he's like, 'Give me a little time, I'm gonna make this throw.' And when you start doing that every play, guys starting believing that. And Carson was doing that too, but we was losing. In any sport when you're losing, something's gotta change. So when they benched Carson and put Jalen in, he won his first game, and then everybody was on the up-and-up. I think he lost the last two, but we had a chance to win it.
The energy level was just a little bit better when Jalen got in there, but the same thing was happening with Carson; the leadership, the grit, but we was losing. I believed in Carson the whole time, just the city of Philly's just rough, man. I was blocking and holding my guy off as long as I could, but when everybody's getting hurt on the line, and backup receivers are going down, (Zach) Ertz, he was hurt. It's just tough for a quarterback to be the best he can be when there's a lot of guys subbing in and they're backups.
After being benched in early December, rumors began to swirl about Wentz, his fractured relationship with then-head coach Doug Pederson, and his entitlement. Talks of Wentz being an issue in the locker room were being quoted by anonymous sources.
However, Peters is now the most recent former Eagles teammate to come to Wentz's defense. Previously, defensive end Chris Long and safety Malcolm Jenkins — who have been known as two of the best leaders in the NFL — debunked the major concerns and brought clarity to the situation.
Whatever happened in the past, Wentz now has a clean slate with a new team. Can he get back to that MVP-level of play that he displayed early in his career?
