Some think the Eagles could end up with a quarterback controversy between starter Carson Wentz and Super Bowl winner Nick Foles. Coach Doug Pederson doesn’t.
“I still believe this is Carson’s team,” Pederson told reporters on Tuesday regarding the No. 1 quarterback who suffered a torn ACL in December. “I don’t have any other — I don’t think differently about that.”
Does Nick Foles, who led the team to a Super Bowl win in Wentz’s absence, see it that way?
“For sure,” Pederson said. “For sure.”
As a result, Pederson has no concern about the possibility that, if Wentz isn’t be ready to go when the season begins and Foles plays well, a problem will arise.
“I just think there are no egos involved,” Pederson said. “They’re in this thing together. Both support each other. Nick supported Carson during the season last year, and then Carson turned around and supported Nick at the end of the year. Their relationship has carried over into this spring and summer, and it’s really good. I see them working in the classroom. I see them working on the field. They keep talking. They want to get better individually. They want to get our team better. And so it’s been a really good, really good dynamic between those two.”
ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio asked Pederson about the notion that Foles has earned the right to run onto the field with the first-team offense when the team celebrates its Super Bowl win in Week One.
“Well, right now today, that’s the case, because Carson is not ready,” Pederson said. “I can’t speak for September when we open up against the Falcons. I don’t know where we’re going to be at that time. I think on the outside world people looking at the Philadelphia Eagles, they would probably say, ‘Yeah, Nick deserves an opportunity.’ But this is the offseason still. We’re working a lot of people. Obviously encouraged with Carson’s progress on the field right now. He’s obviously very limited, as you know, just working through some seven on sevens.
“So right now, standing here today, if we’re playing a game, I’d probably say Nick Foles is going out on the field, you know? So that’s where we’re at today. Now come September, we don’t know yet.”
So it sounds like Wentz will play if he’s ready, and that Foles won’t get an automatic one-week stint to commemorate what he did in the postseason. Of course, the possible desire to let Foles enjoy the victory lap could be a factor in assessing whether Wentz is truly ready to go when the season gets going.