Nick Foles, not Carson Wentz, will reportedly start for Eagles against Falcons

Nick Foles, not Carson Wentz, will start for the Philadelphia Eagles against the Atlanta Falcons in the NFL opening kickoff game this Thursday, September 6, according to a report from NFL insider Ian Rapoport.

Rapoport notes Wentz has “done fantastic in his rehab [but] this is a long-term decision for the face of the franchise.”

Mike Garafolo adds that “Wentz is close, just not close enough at this point. No reason to rush him.” Jordan Schultz says that “league sources believe Wentz is on the verge of starting. But taking precaution with Foles is clearly the right move.”

The feeling here was that Wentz was going to be ready for Week 1 given the incredible progress he made from his ACL/LCL injury that occurred last December. But apparently that’s not the case.

Unless, of course, this is another situation where Rapoport is wrong. He previously incorrectly reported that Wentz would begin training camp on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list. He also said that Alshon Jeffery might begin the season on the PUP list, which was also wrong. So we’ll see.

It’s not far-fetched to think that the Eagles want to be patient with Wentz, though, and have the reigning Super Bowl MVP start against the Falcons instead.

For as bad as he looked in the preseason, we all know that Foles is a high variance quarterback. He has some really good games and some really awful games. Hopefully the Eagles will get Good Foles in Week 1 because that’s going to be a tough game. It’s also going to potentially be very important when you consider playoff-seeding in a stacked NFC conference.

Foles helped the Eagles beat the Falcons when Atlanta visited Lincoln Financial Field earlier this year. Hopefully he can do it again.

As for when Wentz will return to action, well, there isn’t a clear update on that yet. Maybe it’s going to be in Week 3 against the Colts, as Peter King previously opined.

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