No. 2 pick Carson Wentz sparkles in his Philadelphia Eagles debut
Let’s be honest — it seemed a little crazy that the Philadelphia Eagles would go right to rookie quarterback Carson Wentz for Week 1.
Wentz played about one half in the preseason opener, and that was it. He suffered a rib injury and missed the rest of the preseason. So, he was about two quarters of NFL football removed from being a star at North Dakota State in the FCS, playing against Indiana State and Western Illinois.
And insert your Cleveland Browns/FCS joke now, but Wentz looked pretty good in his debut.
The second overall pick of the 2016 draft was 22 of 37 for 278 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions in a 29-10 win over the Browns. It’s hard to say if Wentz had a better Week 1 than first overall pick Jared Goff because the Los Angeles Rams play Monday night, but so far so good (I’m just kidding, Goff is the third-string quarterback for the Rams and isn’t going to see the field anytime soon … oops).
If there was worry about Wentz’s transition to the NFL, his first drive took care of that. He smoothly marched the Eagles downfield and then hit wide receiver Jordan Matthews on a beautiful 19-yard touchdown. Pretty good.
Wentz continued to play very well, and turned in a fantastic debut. The Eagles have to be really, really happy he slipped to the No. 2 pick.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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