Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz has said his back should be fine, and hopes it won’t be an issue next year.
What remains a question, however, is how he’ll handle the pressure of replacing the guy who replaced him the last two years.
Nick Foles stepped in and led the team to a Super Bowl last year and to an unlikely playoff push this year, but is expected to be dealt this offseason. Wentz knows that’s a hard act to follow.
“It could [add pressure]. Without a doubt,” Wentz said, via Dave Zangaro of NBC Sports Philadelphia. “You look at that and you could say it could put more pressure. I mean, you can say coming into the season there was more pressure. But I do everything I can to block that stuff out. I think right now, going forward, my focus is getting my body right. And to play this game freely the way I did last year before the injury and cut it loose. Get rid of all that pressure and anxiety and whatever it may be, just play the game freely. And that’s where I’m going to get to.”
Wentz was careful to avoid specific questions about the future of either quarterback, or his own contract situation, though discussion of the position will doubtless dominate Philadelphia sports radio the entire offseason.
“I try not to think about all those things,” Wentz said. “I know there’s lots of he said, she said things out there, . . . but at the end of the day, I can’t control those. I can’t control those. What I can control is getting my body right, getting healthy and getting myself back on the field to prove the player I can be.”
And then and only then can he worry about how much of a challenge it will be to be better than his backup.
