Eagles have ‘got to pull the reins back a little bit’ on Carson Wentz
Eagles offensive Frank Reich is realistic about the development of quarterback Carson Wentz, who is only entering his second NFL season.
Philadelphia Eagles’ Carson Wentz (11) scrambles away from New York Giants’ Romeo Okwara (78) during the second half of an NFL football game, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2016, in Philadelphia.
Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich has high expectations for Carson Wentz, the kind commensurate with the fact he was the second overall pick of last year’s NFL Draft.
Reich also is realistic about the development of a quarterback who is only entering his second NFL season.
‘He is an incredibly smart guy and he wants more’
“I think that’s really what our job comes down to,” he told Tom Pelissero and Bill Polian recently on Late Hits. “We have to keep it simple. And especially because he is an incredibly smart guy and he wants more. He’s always, ‘Hey, feed me more, feed me more.’ He can handle more, but as coaches you always got to be careful.
“Really, what we try to do is stick to our core concepts. You’ve got 20 or 30 core pass concepts that you love and that you know that he loves. And so now how can we use multiple personnel groups, use multiple formations to run those same concepts over and over again? He’s not unlike some of the other quarterbacks I’ve been around. You’ve got to pull the reins back a little bit, especially because he’s younger.”
‘The arrow is way up with this guy’
Reich said that he and the Eagles’ other coaches have to maintain balance between their tremendous optimism over Wentz’s future and getting him ready to improve over his rookie season.
In 16 starts last season, Wentz completed 62.4 percent of his passes for 3,782 yards and 16 touchdowns, with 14 interceptions.
‘I think this guy is unique on the run and the play-action world’
“The arrow is way high up with this guy,” he said. “I think he’s going to be really special, but he’s only in his second year. So we’ve got to remember that, we’ve got to keep it simple for him and we’ve still got to be able to run the football.
“And I think this guy is unique on the run and the play-action world, so we’ve got to emphasize those things for him and then let the down-the-field, all that drop-back passing game, let that continue to develop like it does in all quarterbacks’ careers, and I think that’s the focus with Carson.”
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