NFL insider says Eagles are fine with Carson Wentz not playing in preseason

The status of Carson Wentz’s recovery has been drawn into question recently.

After being very active during the first couple days of Philadelphia Eagles training camp, Wentz now hasn’t participated in an 11-on-11 drill in the latest five practices.

Doug Pederson and Wentz have maintained there has been no setback and the Eagles are merely being cautious. Pederson said he liked what he saw out of Wentz to the point where he feels he doesn’t need to risk further injury right now.

That sentiment lines up with what NFL insider Ian Rapoport reported from the scene of Eagles training camp practice on Sunday afternoon.

First of all, Doug Pederson, the head coach here in Philly, was pretty clear there’s been no setbacks. Really nothing to this. But what the team knows is they saw everything they needed to see from Carson Wentz when he did team drills two days in a row to start camp. He actually had to dodge a couple guys, he had to step out of the way, he had kind of a dirty pocket at one point, just to see some of the movement as he recovers from the ACL and LCL. Once they saw that, they said, you know what, let’s back off a little bit, we don’t need to see much more. So he sat out from team drills almost a week now. And it’s going well.

But here’s what I’m told: I wouldn’t be surprised at all if we did not see him in a preseason game. Why would they? Why risk it? And that’s one thing that’s been pretty clear here. He is such a big part of their future. It is so important to make sure that he is their quarterback not just for the next 10 days but for the next 10 or 15 years. That they are going to make sure to be cautious before putting him out there in harm’s way. So for the preseason, you may see a lot of shots of Carson Wentz watching. And from everyone I’ve spoken with, that’s absolutely fine with them.

Before we address what Rapoport had to say here, we do have to note is was him who originally said something about Wentz possibly starting camp on the Psychically Unable to Perform list. That report was debunked later that day and it seems like it was never even a serious consideration knowing how good Wentz looked early on in camp. Point being: we have to take Rapoport’s report with a grain of salt.

But unlike before, Rapoport’s reporting actually jibes what makes sense. Considering how cautious the Eagles have been with him in practice, it’s hard to imagine they’d really want to risk him playing in a meaningless preseason game.

Back in April, Wentz said he doesn’t feel like he needs to play in the preseason to be ready for Week 1.

And you know what? He’s probably not wrong for feeling that way.

Wentz barely played in the preseason as a rookie since he suffered a hairline rib fracture 39 snaps into his first NFL action. He sat out the rest of the summer before going on to have a great start to the 2016 season. In his first three games, Wentz completed 65% of his passes for five touchdowns, 769 yards, zero interceptions, and a 103.8 passer rating. So much for rust.

Wentz’s status will obviously be monitored closely as the summer rolls on. For now, I still think the Eagles are just being cautious to make sure he’ll be out there Week 1 against the Atlanta Falcons.