Carson Wentz was held out of yet another Eagles practice on Friday, even though it was a non-contact session.
The mindset the Philadelphia Eagles have with their franchise quarterback, Carson Wentz, is completely understandable. He’s spent the better part of the last year trying to recover from a devastating knee injury that occurred during what could’ve been an MVP season in 2017, and because of it, he missed out on being the guy to lead the Eagles to their first ever championship in Super Bowl LII.
Since Wentz will be taking back his starting job for the 2018 season, the Eagles want to make sure they are careful with their prized possession and don’t rush him back into action too quickly. There would be nothing worse than an accident that could’ve been avoided keeping Wentz out for even more time. They are right to take a cautious approach with the third-year QB.
However, there comes a point when you can be a little too cautious. It’s smart not to overwork Wentz, but at the same time, he still has to practice and get ready for the season.
Eagles head coach Doug Pederson made an interesting decision by keeping Wentz out of yet another training camp practice on Friday. Wentz still hasn’t been cleared for contact, but the Eagles were doing 11-on-11 drills that were non-contact workouts. On top of that, quarterbacks always wear red jerseys in practice to make sure that they don’t get hit.
Pederson has his reasons for keeping Wentz out of the workouts; even though there would be no contact, he didn’t want to take the chance of him suffering some kind of fluke injury just by being on the field.
“I’m not going to subject him to that right now,” Pederson said according to USA Today. “Now is not the time to risk that.”
It makes sense, but at the same time, Wentz still needs to practice if he’s going to be ready to start Week 1. Even though he’s not cleared for contact, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to just get him on the field and let him move a little bit.
The Eagles are smart to be cautious with Wentz, but they also need to let him get some work in.