Find someone who looks at you the way Frank Reich looks at Carson Wentz. His belief in the former second-overall pick is bulletproof, stemming from their time together with the Philadelphia Eagles -- when Reich was the team's offensive coordinator. His first year in that role back in 2016 coincided with the organization making Wentz the first quarterback selected by the Eagles in the first round since Donovan McNabb (1999). Fast forward to 2020 and the Eagles selected Jalen Hurts in the second round of the draft, later benched Wentz and then traded him in the offseason to the Indianapolis Colts, where Reich was waiting with open arms.
Some asked why the Colts would send away picks for Wentz as opposed to simply addressing the position in the upcoming draft and, for the most part, Reich answered with a complete absence of minced words. The bottom line is: he believes his former and now current QB can regain the form he possessed when he was in the running for MVP before suffering a torn ACL in 2017.
Hell, Reich isn't even going back that far to locate evidence.
"All you had to do, for me, was turn on the film in 2019, and with four games to go the Eagles needed to win out," Reich said, via SI.com. "And not only did they need to win out, but in each of those games, as I recall, looking at the film, Carson had to play great in the second half and play a major role in that team winning those games in the second half. Now, they were team wins, they were team efforts, it wasn't a one-man show. But Carson made the plays that a quarterback needs to make when you need to win four games in a row to make the playoffs.
"He did that, and that wasn't 2017. That was 2019. So in my mind, that just confirmed to me this guy still has it."
Make no mistake about it, though, because Reich is also using the 2017 season to crutch his outlook on Wentz.
"When you have superpowers, quote-unquote, and in '17, it was like he did have superpowers," said Reich of Wentz. "He made so many plays, ridiculous plays, you just can't do that all the time."
So why the fall from grace in Philly?
"... In '20, the protection wasn't as good as it was in '17," he added. "And so it required him to do more with less, because they had so many guys hurt and because of the other dynamics that were there. So, yeah, some of it's him -- just get rid of the ball -- help your offensive line out. It's not just the protection isn't good. The quarterback can help the protection, just getting rid of the ball.
"But it's not all Carson's fault either. It's everybody's fault."
Wentz gets the fresh start he so desperately wanted in 2021, and with a familiar face he's had success with previously, but there's a lot of pressure him to be what the Colts need, or it'll be the film to come that plasters egg all over the face of his new head coach and former offensive coordinator.
