July 31, 2016
On a sunny Sunday at The Linc where the crowd had shrunk to half the size of last year’s open practice, there was still some visible enthusiasm for the No. 2 overall pick in the NFL Draft.
Chants of “Carson!” and “We want Wentz!” could be heard at various points of the afternoon.
"We want Wentz" chants at #Eagles practice at Linc today. Carson says he was "surprised" how many fans showed up pic.twitter.com/nGCMqC9JFl
— John Clark CSN (@JClarkCSN) July 31, 2016
“It was pretty cool,” Carson Wentz said of his first experience playing at the Eagles home stadium. “Getting in the locker room, I was like, ‘Alright, this is pretty nice.’ Coming out here, everyone’s yelling. For a practice, it’s pretty sweet to see the support.”
Wentz has now completed a full week’s worth of training camp practices, and while it’s hard to make any serious judgments before he starts competing in games, you tend to see up-and-down play from the 23-year-old signal caller in practices. Wentz looks like a rookie, which after all, he is.
On one play, Wentz might overthrow an open receiver. On the next one, he very well could put a frozen rope deep pass right on the money. Doug Pederson, who said he’s happy with the rookie’s progress as well as his work ethic in film room and meetings, certainly has seen the flashes.
“Some of the plays he’s made yesterday and through rookie camp, there’s a couple of ‘wow’ plays that you just go, ‘That’s the kind of quarterback that you know you have,’” Pederson said.
Still though, Wentz seems to have a lot to work on. Mechanically, Pederson said that the coaching staff is focusing on working with Wentz on his lower body, trying to fine-tune his footwork.
According to the coach, if Wentz can get lower to the ground, he can become more accurate in time.
“Trying to keep his feet tighter to the ground,” Pederson said. “He can get a little jumpy, a little hoppy. He can also be a little upright in his frame, so we’ll try to keep him in a bent posture a little bit. Just his knowledge and understanding of the offense, being able to anticipate and become a little more accurate passer.”
On a few occasions over the past week, the ball has fluttered coming out of Wentz’s hands. When asked if that is something mechanical, Pederson said that he believes it’s more mental.
A former quarterback, Pederson has experience trying to catch up to the speed and sophistication of the NFL. Basically, he believes that Wentz is sometimes thinking so much about the play that the actual throw is put on the back burner.
“Sometimes some of those balls can be the process, because I’ve been there, is the process of thinking about the play,” Pederson said. “And the last thing you’re worried about is the throw. You’re more worried about the progression of the play and sometimes that affects the throw.”
For his part, Wentz thinks that like anything, more experience and repetition will help with his throws.
“It’s getting better every day,” Wentz said. “The biggest thing is just feeling confident with the playbook and playing fast with it. So the more mentally prepared I can be, the better my feet are going to be as well.”
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
