Carson Wentz’s Journey from an FCS School to Becoming a $128 Million QB
Carson Wentz has signed a four-year deal worth $128 million that will keep him in Philadelphia until 2024. However, Wentz was once a player who flew under the radar during his years at North Dakota State.
As a high school prospect, Wentz didn’t draw much attention. Wentz was a scrawny 6’1 and 155-pound player his junior year, but what affected his stock, even more, was where he played. Not many college scouts made their way out to North Dakota, where Wentz attended high school, so his options were limited. Typically, college teams like to sign quarterbacks during their junior season, but teams just weren’t coming Wentz’s way.
Eventually, Wentz got an offer from North Dakota State, a Football Championship Subdivision, or FCS, school. However, no FBS, or Football Bowl Subdivision, schools offered Wentz a scholarship. Western Michigan expressed interest in Wentz at one point, but they never went as far as offering him a spot on the team.
For Wentz, as a North Dakota kid, there are far worse things than attending North Dakota State, the school many in the state look up to and praise. However, from a national standpoint, it isn’t exactly a hotbed compared to FBS schools for producing NFL talent.
At North Dakota State, Wentz began life buried in the depth chart. In his first two seasons, Wentz threw a total of just 46 passes for the Bisons.
In 2014, Wentz’s junior year, he finally burst onto the scene. Wentz completed 228 of 258 passes for 3,111 yards, 25 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. Wentz and the Bisons won the FCS championship that year. However, Wentz still wasn’t on anyone’s radar.
In a way-too-early NFL Mock Draft after that season, Bleacher Report didn’t have Wentz in the first round. Instead, Christian Hackenberg, Cardale Jones, and Jared Goff were the quarterbacks mocked in the first round.
In his senior season, Wentz played just seven games due to suffering a wrist injury. That season, Wentz completed 130 of 208 passes for 1,651 yards, 17 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions. The Bisons won another national championship, but there were still some question marks around Wentz.
Some teams had concerns whether Wentz would be able to truly compete at the NFL level since he played at an FCS school. At the beginning of his rankings, ESPN’s Mel Kiper had Wentz ranked as a potential second or third-round pick.
When Wentz held his Pro Day in North Dakota, only 18 NFL teams came to see him workout. Despite not all teams buying in on his potential, Wentz showed enough to quickly shoot up draft boards.
Eventually, Kiper’s thinking of Wentz went from a Day 2 selection to potentially being the first quarterback taken in the draft.
After the Rams and Eagles did some maneuvering, the results of the 2016 NFL Draft became clear before it even started: the Rams were going to take Goff first overall, clearing the path for the Eagles to take Wentz second.
However, Wentz going second even describes the issues he’s faced being from and playing in, North Dakota. The Rams preferred Goff because he played at California, while they had Wentz lower on their board simply because he played at an FCS school.
One man’s loss is another man’s treasure.
The Eagles selected Wentz second overall, and it was the start of something great. It originally looked as if Wentz would sit on the bench for his first season, but the Eagles traded Sam Bradford just weeks before the start of the season, opening the door for Wentz to start.
In his rookie season, Wentz dealt with the ups and downs that rookie quarterbacks typically experience. Wentz finished with 3,782 passing yards for 16 touchdowns and 14 interceptions, and his QB rating was just 79.3. The Eagles finished 7-9, but there were flashes of greatness with both Wentz and the team that hinted great things were ahead.
The next offseason, the league was officially put on notice by Wentz. It wasn’t the fans, though, that told everyone Wentz was destined for greatness, it was the players.
When the Eagles signed Alshon Jeffery to a one-year deal, he said the deciding factor was the presence of Wentz. Jeffery believed Wentz had the potential to win MVP, and he said Wentz told him that he wanted to win the Super Bowl that season.
The Eagles drew another big name free agent as well, partially thanks to Wentz.
After winning the Super Bowl, LeGarrette Blount had a bit of a souring with the New England Patriots, which led him to sign with the Eagles.
Blount said he wanted to sign with a team that he felt could win the Super Bowl, and that team was the Eagles. Wentz was one of the reasons Blount believed that was the case.
Players flocked to Philadelphia, and everything pointed to one person: Wentz.
When the 2017 season began, Wentz backed up what everyone said immediately.
Wentz was on an absolute tear, slicing and dicing every team that he faced. The Eagles started the season 10-2, and Wentz was the easy vote to win the leagues MVP award.
Then, there was the trip to Los Angeles.
The Eagles had the chance to clinch the NFC East title with a win along with being able to play against the Rams, who were also one of the leagues best teams, but no one knew the consequences that would ensue.
Down 28-24 in the third quarter, the Eagles had the ball at the Rams two-yard line. Wentz rolled out to the right, seamlessly diving into the endzone for a touchdown, but it was called back due to a holding penalty. Wentz took a giant hit, but no one seemed to notice anything wrong at first.
Wentz tapped to the sideline, saying something was wrong and he needed to come off, but no one saw the signal. Instead of coming off, Wentz stayed on the field and eventually threw a touchdown, on fourth-down, to Jeffery. The Eagles had the lead, but all Wentz could care about was getting off the field and getting checked out by the medical staff.
Wentz went into the infamous blue tent before walking back to the locker room. Then, the announcement came that made Eagles fans sick everywhere: the team had feared Wentz suffered a torn ACL. The diagnosis was later confirmed, forcing Wentz to undergo season-ending surgery.
The hopes and dreams all went down with Wentz, but then it didn’t. Nick Foles came to the rescue, leading the Eagles to the teams first-ever Super Bowl. Foles was the one on the field and he was the one who held the Lombardi trophy first, but people of knowledge knew the team would never be in that situation without Wentz.
The 2018 season came and went for Wentz, and it surely didn’t go how he or fans had hoped. The Eagles were just 5-6 in games started by Wentz, and he hadn’t completely looked right yet from the knee injury. Wentz suffered a season-ending back injury, which was potentially caused by the knee injury.
However, for the Eagles and the majority of the fanbase, Wentz had done enough to not only win both parties over, but be seen as deserving of a contract extension.
Speculation of the Eagles keeping Foles and Wentz were quickly shut down after the team chose to not franchise tag Foles, and multiple members of the team emphasized Wentz was the quarterback of the future. A contract extension was only a matter of time, and now, the day has come.
On June 6 at 7:32 PM, the Eagles officially announced that the team and Wentz agreed to a four-year extension. The deal will pay Wentz $128 million over that time, with incentives potentially earning Wentz as much as $144 million. Wentz also received $107 million guaranteed, which ties Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson for the most guaranteed money in the NFL.
The journey of Wentz is like no other in the NFL. Wentz hadn’t received a single offer from an FBS school and instead had to attend North Dakota State. After being a backup his first two years, Wentz burst onto the scene with two phenomenal seasons, but teams still had doubts. Even before signing the extension with the Eagles, plenty of people had doubts of whether Wentz could stay healthy or if he was worthy of being a franchise quarterback.
The Eagles didn’t listen to the doubts about Wentz before drafting him, and they ignored them again this offseason. Wentz is now a $128 million quarterback, and he is now setting himself up his biggest opportunity yet to show everyone what he is truly worth.
Featured Image: Yong Kim/Philly Inquirer
Discover more from Philadelphia Sports Nation
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Categorized:Eagles