Tracking Carson Wentz's Unique Journey with the Beginning of Year 5 on the Horizon

PHILADELPHIA – Four years ago, Carson Wentz was lying in a cornfield with friends and family hunting geese during Labor Day weekend when his cell buzzed.

Eagles coach Doug Pederson was on the other end, wanting to let him know that he would be the starting quarterback when the team opened the season against the Cleveland Browns in a week.

“It was pretty crazy,” said Wentz, remembering the moment that changed his professional football trajectory. “I was out hunting, laying in a cornfield. Not a great morning hunt but got that call from coach as I was laying in the middle of the corn. We packed up right then and there. I said, ‘I gotta go, I gotta go.’ It was definitely one to remember and definitely cherish that memory.”

Wentz was all set to be the Eagles’ No. 3 quarterback as a rookie in 2016. That changed with the sudden trade of Sam Bradford to Minnesota, which needed a quarterback after a gruesome injury to Teddy Bridgewater.

Then the Eagles’ decided to leapfrog Chase Daniel and elevate Wentz into the starting role.

The moment he got the unexpected call that he was going to be the starter just a couple months after being drafted second overall is all part of a unique journey that has been very different than many of his counterparts.

It may be a stretch to call him a survivor, but Wentz has certainly had to overcome plenty of bumpy moments.

Now 27 and set to begin his fifth season as the starting quarterback when the Eagles travel to Landover, Md., to open against the Washington Football Team, Wentz appears poised for a big season. Maybe his biggest yet, and that is saying a lot for a quarterback who became the first one in team history to throw for more than 4,000 yards and who already owns the franchise’s single-season record for touchdown passes at 33.

His touchdown to interception rate is crazy good, with 97 TDs and 35 interceptions, 14 of which came in his rookie season, but his 48 career fumbles are a big wart.

“For Carson, it's just a matter of running the show, running the offense, running the team,” said head coach Doug Pederson. “He's going into his fifth year. He knows how to play this game. He plays it just like a professional. He knows how to play. He's aggressive.

“We have to maintain that aggressiveness and I think with just continuing to teach and maybe part of the injuries that he's gone through in the last couple of seasons are things that he can learn from.”

Injuries have certainly been a part of Wentz's journey, but every quarterback has those. Some, like Alex Smith in Washington, have been severe and what SMith overcame has been inspirational. The same could e said to some extent about Bridgewater as well.

Wentz had his share of injuries, from the broken ribs in a rookie preseason game to the knee to the back and to last year’s playoff concussion.

But what about injuries to the players around him, has any QB overcome more?

Wentz drove a broken-down roster across the finish line with four straight wins to capture the NFC East in 2019.

He was surrounded by former practice squad players at the time, with his three starting receivers all nursing injuries and watching from the sidelines well before the end of the season – Alshon Jeffery, DeSean Jackson, and Nelson Agholor.

No other quarterback had thrown for more than 4,000 yards in a season without a receiver having at least 500 of those yards.

The journey’s biggest bump in the road for Wentz is something most quarterbacks don’t have to deal with ever in their careers, and that is watching their replacement go on to win a Super Bowl title.

Wentz was on his way to establishing himself as a league MVP in 2017 when calamity struck in the form of two torn knee ligaments on Dec. 10 in Los Angeles.

Enter Nick Foles, who went on the run of a lifetime, winning three straight postseason games, including Super Bowl LII, in which he outdueled Tom Brady, who bucked tradition by refusing to even shake Foles’ hand after the game.

That gave rise to what local radio talk shows began calling the Folesian Society, a large group of Eagles fans who wanted to trade Wentz and give the starting QB job to Foles.

To his credit, Wentz admitted at the time that it was hard not to have a sense of jealousy about what Foles did.

Wentz is human, after all.

“As far as evolution as a player on the field … it’s been a whirlwind, it’s been something new every year what you’re learning about yourself,” said Wentz. “It’s been a lot of highs and lows for me both on the field but also injuries and all those things. A lot of life changes as well, getting married, having a daughter. Life’s been a whirlwind, to say the least, but I’ve learned a lot about myself, grown a lot as a man and in my faith.”

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Special Contributor Jake Melvin assisted with this story.