Now that Carson Wentz is a member of the Indianapolis Colts, he needs to show why he was previously the No. 2 pick in the draft.
It wasn’t long ago when Carson Wentz went No. 2 overall in the 2016 NFL Draft and just a year later was a strong MVP candidate before getting injured, which ended his season. The Eagles went on to win the Super Bowl that season without him and Wentz was never the same player he was in that 2017 season.
The Indianapolis Colts obviously hope he can return to that form, or at least something close to it, and they have the talent on their team to help Wentz out, which the same couldn’t be said for Philly.
This past season saw Wentz play terribly and while he was really bad, the Eagles had very few weapons and their o-line wasn’t good. It’s hard for any quarterback to play that well when neither of those areas are up to snuff.
Carson Wentz won’t be able to complain about either of those aspects with the Indianapolis Colts.
The Colts were a premiere landing spot for any of the big-name quarterbacks this offseason because of what they had to offer offensively. Their offensive line is one of the best in the league, allowing just 19 sacks on Philip Rivers in 2020. Wentz, on the other hand, was sacked 50 times through just 12 games with the Eagles last season.
With Wentz’s ability to scramble (certainly more so than Rivers’), he should be able to really bring down his sack total. Not getting hit means less of an opportunity to get injured, which has also been a big knock on Wentz throughout his NFL career.
Indianapolis also has a lot of promising talent weapons-wise. Rookie Jonathan Taylor broke out in a big way in 2020, rushing for 1,169 yards and 11 touchdowns while hauling in another 299 yards and a touchdown.
T.Y. Hilton is hitting free agency and if the Colts can’t bring him back, they liked what they saw from rookie Michael Pittman Jr., who had 40 receptions for 503 yards and a touchdown last season. Pittman was great in the playoff loss to Buffalo, grabbing five passes for 90 yards and putting on display what he could do for this organization in the future.
The Colts will probably bring in another wide receiver or tight end in free agency and/or the draft to help Wentz out as well. This is more than the former North Dakota State Bison ever had to work with this past season and we saw how that played out for him.
If Wentz doesn’t play well with all of the spoils that Indy has to offer, then the verdict will be in and it’ll be that Carson Wentz is likely designated for a backup quarterback spot for the duration of his career. At least he got that big extension before this information got leaked.