Adrian Fedkiw
Philadelphia is a tough, passionate city which hates to lose.
Carson Wentz thinks he fits right in.
“They’re passionate here, they hate losing,” he said. “I’m like ‘Heck, I fit right in.’ I hate losing, I’m really passionate about the game as well. That’s the general consensus I keep getting from this Philadelphia area.”
The North Dakota State star quarterback Wentz had his introductory press conference Friday afternoon, a day after being selected with the No. 2 overall pick in Thursday’s NFL Draft. Philadelphia traded up from No. 8 to get up to No. 2 last Wednesday.
Eagles head coach Doug Pederson explained Thursday night that Wentz “bleeds winning” and compared him to Brett Favre. Wentz chimed in on those comments.
“It’s how I’m wired,” he said of winning. “If I’m not the best at something it kinds of takes me off and I want to work my tail off to be the best. It’s also kind of my upbringing, my parents, my older brother always pushed me. I was always competitive with him. I just hate losing, that’s just kind of how I’m wired and hopefully I can bring that to Philadelphia.”
And about Pederson comparing Wentz to Favre?
“I thought it was crazy because I grew up rooting for Favre. Just loved watching him, his toughness, his grittiness and the energy he bring out there. Those are things I like to model my game after,” he said.
Wentz also referenced New England’s Tom Brady, Carolina’s Cam Newton and Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers as other quarterbacks he patterns his game after.
Eagles vice president of football operations Howie Roseman has repeatedly stated over the last few days that Sam Bradford will be his starting quarterback this season despite his trade requests. With just 23 starts and 612 pass attempts at the FCS level, many expect Wentz to sit for most if not all of his rookie season. He also did it his first two seasons at North Dakota State
“As a competitor you want to be out there, but I understand that there’s a lot to that. I’m just going to come in and learn,” Wentz said. “For one, that’s not for me to decide. I’m just going to come in, learn and compete my tail off. When coach feels fit for me to go out there I’ll go out there and I’ll hopefully do well.”
Wentz does have experience sitting and waiting his turn. He waited on the bench his first two years with the Bison while Brock Jensen was getting done winning the Bison the first three of their five consecutive FCS National Championships.
“At North Dakota State while I wasn’t playing, I was just diving in, I wanted to learn up as much football as I could and soak up as much as I could from the offensive playbook, defensive schemes, the whole nine yards,” Wentz said.
He did, however, explain why he thinks he’ll be ready to play sooner than people think.
“I think the transition for me will be a lot smoother than most would think, than most other prospects. I think at North Dakota State, I was in charge of a lot of things at the line of scrimmage, a lot of play-action pass, was in charge of the audibles, run game checks you name it,” he said.
Being a burly 235-pound quarterback, Wentz wasn’t afraid to lay the boom on opposing defenders when carrying the ball at the FCS level, but understands he’ll have to change his style in the pros.
“We had designed quarterback runs 10 times a game. And when that’s the case, I turned into a running back and didn’t think about it. Obviously, I’m prepared for the next level, I don’t want to get hurt, I want to stay on the field. There’s a time and place to be that guy, but for the most part I’ll learn to protect myself and I’ll learn pretty quickly,” he said.
Wentz is the fifth FCS quarterback drafted in the first round since 1978 and is the highest non-FBS signal caller taken since Steve McNair got drafted third overall in 1995.
Let the Wentz era begin! You can watch his entire press conference below.