Frank Reich isn't allowed to talk about Carson Wentz.
But on Thursday, he did talk about an unnamed veteran quarterback who may have lost his confidence.
Gee ... wonder who that is.
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The NFL trading window doesn’t open until March 17, the first day of the 2021 league year, and because of tampering regulations, teams aren’t allowed to talk about trades that haven’t officially been made yet.
Reich reminded the Indianapolis media of that on Thursday, as he started a Zoom call.
“With the relative news that has been out in the headlines recently – you guys know the rules,” he said. “I’m going to be unable to make any serious comments on some of that stuff.”
There are ways around every rule.
NFL
Reich couldn’t mention Wentz by name, but he did talk about him without technically talking about him.
Reich was asked by Jim Ayello of the Indianapolis Star in general terms about quarterbacks losing their confidence and what it takes for them to regain it.
No secret who the subject of the question was.
“That’s a great question and a very relevant question always, the confidence level of players at every position, certainly not just the quarterback position,” Reich said. “I think one of the great misnomers is that sometimes fans think the greatest players in the world – I’ve seen some of the best players in the world, everybody loses confidence for a moment. It may be brief, but it always goes back the same way.
"One of the ways to build confidence back is you go back to the basics, you go back to the fundamentals and technique, you go back to your basic schemes and you build it one play at a time. That’s true for any of us. So that is the way we will handle every position.”
That’s something Doug Pederson and his coaching staff were unable to do last year as Wentz appeared to gradually lose his confidence during his miserable final season with the Eagles.
Reich, Pederson’s offensive coordinator in 2017, when Wentz had his brilliant 2017 season, is gambling that he can do what the Eagles couldn’t.
The Colts last week traded the Eagles their 2021 3rd-round pick and a 2022 2nd-round pick that could become a 1st-round pick for the 28-year-old Wentz.
He’ll presumably become the Colts’ fourth opening-day quarterback in the last four years, following Andrew Luck in 2018, Jacoby Brissett in 2019 and Philip Rivers in 2020.
The Wentz trade was huge for the Eagles but just as huge for the Colts as they look for stability at a position they haven’t had any since Luck retired.
“That has always been the goal, to have a longer-term answer at that position that you can build around and grow,” he said. “As you grow as an offense because the quarterback is so central in the offense going through him, being able to grow year-by-year is an important aspect of that.”
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