Some of the Eagles players that talked behind Carson Wentz’s back are now defending him

You might recall a scathing report about Carson Wentz not always being viewed as the best teammate written by PhillyVoice’s Joe Santoliquito back in January 2019. The Philadelphia Eagles’ starting quarterback himself later admitted there was truth to the story.

“I know I have flaws. So I’m not going to sit here and say it was inaccurate and completely made up.”

Since then, though, we’ve seen Wentz grow as a leader. The end of the 2019 season was really important for him as he rallied a bunch of young skill players to clinch an NFC East title.

Following these events, Santoliquito now has a new PhillyVoice report about how players who once questioned Wentz’s leadership are now defending him. I encourage you to read the entire thing but here are some highlights:

“Everybody believes in Carson. They do now,” said one of the sources from PhillyVoice’s 2019 story. “My issue was availability. If you’re going to be a leader, then lead. Be accessible. When he got hurt (three years ago), he shut himself down and shut himself off from the rest of us. He’s made conscious, serious efforts to connect with guys. Some guys continued to shut him out. That’s on them—not Carson.”

There’s even mention of how the Eagles drafting Jalen Hurts at No. 53 overall confused some players.

“Just when this becomes Carson’s team, then you yank the rug (out) from under him? More than a few guys were scratching their heads over that. Hell, we could have taken a prime Tom Brady with that pick and guys would still be wondering about that. If (management) wants this to be Carson’s team, then let it be Carson’s team! Don’t f--- with the guy.”

One of the biggest criticisms BGN levied against the Hurts pick is how it could potentially undermine Wentz right after he worked so hard to finally establish himself as a leader. But it appears that Wentz has strong support in the locker room for now.

It’s been encouraging to read about Wentz’s growth as a leader in this story and the one that ESPN’s Tim McManus published earlier this week. He’s the one that has the potential to elevate this team to greatness; they’re probably only going to go as far as he takes them.