Adrian Fedkiw
Doug Pederson was giddy, excited and couldn’t sleep prior to waking up for his day of Training Camp as the Philadelphia Eagles head coach on Monday.
He wasn’t as excited when having to announce that Sam Bradford was the Eagles’ starting quarterback for the zillionth time this offseason.
Thanks a lot Sal Paolantonio!
Pederson spoke to the media after Monday’s practice, including how he might divvy up the reps at quarterback between Bradford, Chase Daniel and Carson Wentz.
“I’m not officially there yet,” he said of the reps. “I do know this, your first two preseason games typically your starters don’t play a ton. You’re trying to save them for that third game and getting them ready for the regular season. We will focus on the twos and threes a little bit more early in camp, probably give them a bulk of the reps and then ramp the guys up who we think are going to be the starters opening day. We’ll get them more reps at the end of camp.”
Pederson discussed the differences between Wentz and when Donovan McNabb was a rookie in 1999.
“I’m very comfortable with Sam, very comfortable with Chase. It’s a little different scenario than 1999, Donovan came in as the No. 2. Right now we’re just going to get Carson as many reps as we can, get him caught up and get him where he needs to be,” he said.
Pederson also talked about Wentz and the possibility of a redshirt year.
“We don’t know if it’ll be his entire rookie year, we can’t speculate that far out, but going into the season there’s a good chance it starts that way,” he said.
At this point, Wentz just has to work on the “little things,” according to Pederson.
“Detailed things with his footwork and his drop, progression, with his eyes,” he said.
And what about Bradford?
“He left the spring playing extremely good football and he picked up today where he left off,” Pederson said.
Pederson believes that Bradford being able to stay healthy this entire offseason will give him a huge boost of confidence going into the regular season.
“I think it’s huge, it’s everything,” he said. “It’s a tremendous boost, mentally, physically the whole thing and I know that’s where Sam’s at. I know that’s the mindset coming into this camp that he had an entire offseason. Could get stronger, could get into the weight room, do all the things that the guys were doing. It just gives you a boost of confidence going into the season.”
You can watch the entire press conference below.