Carson Wentz's Eagles teammates give him big show of support

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Malcolm Jenkins and Alshon Jeffery and Lane Johnson were in South Philadelphia on Friday. No, they weren’t at the NovaCare Complex for OTAs. All three have skipped the voluntary practices so far this spring. 

They were at Carson Wentz’s charity softball game, along with another couple dozen high-profile Eagles players. 

Yup, they must all hate him. 

You’ll remember how this offseason started. It began in a most unusual way, when Wentz was characterized as “selfish” and “egotistical” in that now infamous PhillyVoice story. A little over four months later, 29 of his teammates showed up to play in the AO1 Foundation’s charity softball game and even more were in attendance. 

The event was a success. Around 15,000 fans showed up and $500,000 was raised for the AO1 Foundation. The total is now at $1.35 million in two years. The money goes to the foundation’s three initiatives. It will help finish off that sports complex in Haitai, it’ll feed folks from Wentz’s food truck and it’ll give kids who have been through Hell the chance to be kids again. 

So, sure, Wentz’s teammates were supporting a great cause. But that’s not all they were doing. 

They were supporting Wentz. Every one of them. 

This is not to say Wentz is perfect or to completely dismiss some of the character flaws brought up in that story. Wentz himself has even owned up to some of those flaws; maybe that whole experience will make him stronger. And some of his teammates did anonymously speak out against him. But as the Eagles begin preparations for the 2019 season, Wentz is healthy and his teammates are behind him. 

Like Lane Johnson, who hasn’t been at OTAs, but was there Friday and even played a mid-inning game where he caught toilet paper rolls snapped by Jason Kelce with his feet, then rolled on his back to toss them in a bin behind over head. He had a blast. 

Like Malcolm Jenkins, who has skipped OTAs in the middle of a purported contract dispute, but was at CBP to support his quarterback. 

Like DeSean Jackson, who has been teammates with Wentz for just a couple months, but played right-center field and led off for the offense. He even showed off his new secret handshake with his quarterback. 

Like Torrey Smith, who hasn’t been an Eagle for over a year but is still part of the family. 

Like Rodney McLeod and Corey Clement, who haven’t practiced yet this spring as they recover from knee injury, but came out on Friday night, McLeod to coach and Clement to participate in the home run derby. 

Like Alshon Jeffery, Nate Sudfeld, Richard Rodgers, Zach Ertz, Dallas Goedert, Stefen Wisniewski, Brandon Graham, Sidney Jones, Nelson Agholor, Vinny Curry, Rasul Douglas, L.J. Fort, Jake Elliott, JJ Arcega-Whiteside, Kamu Grugier-Hill, Jordan Howard, Malik Jackson, Cameron Johnston, Jason Kelce, Cre’Von LeBlanc, Rick Lovato, Avonte Maddox, Jordan Mailata, Miles Sanders, Wendell Smallwood and Halapoulivaati Vaitai and more, who all showed up on Friday night at Citizens Bank Park and had a great time. 

Before the game, Wentz had a brief press conference in the Phillies interview room. He said how much it meant to him that so many of his teammates came out for the night. Wentz was equally excited to watch how much fun his teammates were going to have. 

“Pretty cool event,” Wentz said. 

Yeah, it was pretty cool. But that’s not why his teammates were there.

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