This Sunday, Washington Commanders quarterback Carson Wentz will battle the team that drafted him with the second overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, the team where he had the most success, the Philadelphia Eagles, in the first of two matchups between the two teams.
The first matchup will take place at FedExField as Wentz, and the Commanders(1-1) will battle the Eagles(2-0) for the time since he was traded to the Colts by the team after the 2020 season.
It’s a divisional game, so winning is important, but what might be bigger for Wentz is the opportunity to show Philadelphia he can still get it done; he did acknowledge on Tuesday that he’s excited about the game.
“Yeah, exciting. It’s an exciting time,” he told the media. “Obviously, a division rivalry, you know, been a part of this one for a while. Things look different this year, but it’ll be fun. It’ll be fun. Obviously, it looks a little bit different over there from when I was there. New faces, new coaches, new everything, but it’ll be a fun one.”
During his time with the Eagles, Wentz received a lot of love from the Philly faithful, especially in 2017, where he had his best season as a pro and helped lead the team to the best record in the NFL before tearing his ACL late in the season. Ultimately, the Eagles would win the Super Bowl with Nick Foles at quarterback,
Wentz battled injuries in 2018, and ultimately, Foles would again lead the Eagles to the playoffs. However, in 2019, Wentz would get paid as he signed a four-year, $128 million extension with the team and would lead Philadelphia to the postseason, but he would leave the team’s playoff loss to the Seahawks with a concussion.
Unfortunately, 2020 was Wentz’s worst year as a pro, where he led the league in interceptions in only 12 games, and he would lose his job late in the season to Jalen Hurts.
After five seasons, Wentz’s time with the Eagles had to come to an end.
Wentz discussed his time in Philadelphia.
“I mean this league, my career has been a whirlwind,” he said. “I’ll tell you that much. A lot of really good memories from my time there. I’m not going to lie—a lot of great friends. A lot of great relationships that I made, you know. Definitely will have some mixed emotions in terms of those things, but nothing crazy jumps out other than my time there was a whirlwind. It was wild. The NFL is a whirlwind, but I’m grateful to still be playing, and I’m excited for this one…
“It was a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun. Obviously, we had a lot of success there. Winning the Super Bowl up there was pretty special. Being a part of that was pretty cool. It’s quite the city, quite the fan base, quite the experience. I’ll definitely cherish my time there, but obviously, being on the other end now, it’ll look a little different. It was a fun couple years there while I was up there. I definitely cherished my time there.”
Things did not end the way he wanted them to in Philadelphia, but according to the seven-year veteran, he grew as a person.
“I mean, I think anytime in life you get thrown a curve ball like that, things change anytime you think, you know what life’s going to look like,” he said. “You know, sometimes I always think God’s up there saying I’m in control, and for me as a man of faith, I think that’s where my faith kicks in and just saying, okay, God, what do you have next for me? I definitely cherished my time that I had up there. It was definitely a wild ride in many, many ways. I grew a lot as a man, you know, got married, had a child, a lot of things. So, I’m very grateful for my time there, but it definitely does catch you off guard things change, and you gotta learn to grow up and change and adapt. At the end of the day, I’m thankful for it. I’m thankful for the changes that life has brought, and I’ve grown a lot from it.”
Wentz is off to a decent start for the Commanders, and there’s probably nothing more he would want but to defeat Philadelphia on Sunday. It won’t be easy.
