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All signs point to a split between Carson Wentz and the Philadelphia Eagles, the team that just five years ago had drafted No.2 in the overall standings, just four years ago, his MVP candidacy. to a Super Bowl, and just two years ago, he signed it to a $ 128 million Extension. But don’t assume that most Eagles fans are ready to say goodbye. Amid reports that Philly is set to trade their much-maligned quarterback as part of a total rebuild, hordes of loyal Eagles have started to flood Wentz’s foundation with donations.
On Tuesday, Fanatic’s 97.5 “The John Kincade Show” kicked off Project 11, urging fans to contribute to the Wentz AO1 Foundation as a way to pay tribute to its impact on and off the field of the past five years. Just over 24 hours later, the foundation tells CBS Sports that more than 650 fans have already contributed, donating more than $ 9,100 – and it counts – on Wentz’s behalf.
Founded in 2017, the AO1 Foundation politely declined to give details of the initiative “because it is centered on the Carson exchange,” an issue the foundation has not commented on. “We are very grateful,” said a spokesperson, “for the support we have received from the Project 11 campaign”.
John Kincade, the radio host behind the campaign, will be happy to elaborate. Because for him, it’s as much a commemoration of Wentz as a “personal crusade” to change the narrative surrounding Eagles fans. Kincade co-host Jamie Lynch recently spoke about Bills Mafia, the rabid Buffalo fanbase who “managed to turn disappointment into positivity” by making massive donations to causes linked to opposing players like Andy Dalton. and Lamar Jackson.
Now, with Project 11, Kincade is aiming for Philly to do the same.
“I’m tired, over the years, of having to defend the Philadelphia fan base,” he said. “You talk about the crazy bangs, that little part, which is always described as being the norm. Look, I’m very critical of how Carson handled this situation and how the Eagles handled this situation, but I don’t. not ‘I want to see people burn Carson Wentz jerseys and have the idiots on this fan base speak for everyone. “
Project 11 is named after Wentz’s No.11 shirt number, but also the 11 wins Wentz started in 2017, when he led the Eagles to an NFC East title and a field advantage for the sole Super Bowl championship in team history.
“If money is tight, give $ 1.11,” Kincade urges fans. “Donate $ 11.11, whatever it is. Just let everyone know that you go out and appreciate what they have accomplished.”
Right now, it’s hard to quantify Wentz’s footballing career – assuming it came to its conclusion in Philadelphia – as anything but a bittersweet story of ‘what could have been’. Kincade is even more brutal: “Honestly, I think the story ends up being a big failure,” he says. “I think it’s a failure that it didn’t work.” Wentz, after all, was once the town’s superstar. The kid from North Dakota who broke on stage with barely a week’s notice that he would be a newbie rookie. The aw-shucks game maker on a safe path who will be remembered as the greatest QB to ever groom the reins of the franchise.
USATSI
When the Eagles won it all in February 2018, with replacement Nick Foles taking over the fate of the injured Wentz, the question was not: Can they start over with Wentz? It was, How many times can they do it? The organization was so sure – so adamant – Wentz was their guy that they allowed Foles to leave freely for another team after two consecutive playoffs in place of Wentz. Because they saw the same things everyone saw: Carson was the man. He was in the top five at best; top-12, at worst. He was the lifeblood of the Eagles. The reason for listening on Sunday. The reason to believe in every piece.
Now, after Wentz’s unprecedented 2020 regression to a poorly assembled roster, with a coaching staff since revamped, it’s clear that No.11’s promise of otherworldly advantage was just that. : A promise. Nothing more. At least in Philadelphia. If the reports are to be believed, Wentz is set for a fresh start, and the Eagles have painted themselves in such a corner that they have to oblige.
“You can’t show me a divorce in life where a person going through a divorce is totally flawless,” Kincade says, recalling Project 11. “But it’s about saying we recognize what the guy did right. Some of his best work as a Philadelphia Eagle has been in the community. We don’t know of anyone in the Philadelphia area who thinks Carson isn’t very civic, that his foundation doesn’t do wonderful things … And Carson puts a little elbow grease behind it. “
That’s what he does.
Last summer, as Wentz prepared to fight the faltering commitment perceptions of an Eagles front office that had just recruited fellow QB Jalen Hurts, he reoriented his Philly-area food truck into a emergency grocery delivery service. As food banks run out and families scramble at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, he lit a $ 100,000 renovation of the truck’s base in New Jersey green, turning the AO1 site into a facility packaging that would serve schools, hospitals and local police departments. . Previously, his food truck served meals – 100% free – to anyone he met in the Philly area.
Later in the summer, as the country reckoned with racial tensions and police shootings, Wentz contributed $ 460,000 in grants issued by the Eagles Social Justice Fund, which supported two dozen organizations to Regional nonprofit specializing in everything from educational equality and community relations to police mentoring youth. In previous years, he gave her hundreds of thousands more, as well as personal time with children and families facing medical challenges, which earned her a Humanitarian Award in 2018.
The two times Wentz hosted his charity softball game, drawing tens of teammates and tens of thousands of fans to Citizens Bank Park, he raised $ 1.35 million for other AO1 initiatives: Camp Conquerors, a ministry for outdoor children; Mountain movers, hunting, fishing and youth retreats in small groups; and the Haiti Sports Complex, the construction of an 18,750 square foot multipurpose facility – with basketball courts, football fields, dormitories and a Wi-Fi park – for underprivileged youth in the country of Caribbean. All of them were designed to “demonstrate the love of God” by nourishing people both physically and spiritually.
Wentz’s charity never wavered, you see, even when its numbers on the ground, its health, and its organizational position did.
This is one of the main reasons Kincade says Project 11 is set to explode. Corporate sponsors are already lining up to support Wentz through the same campaign. More and more fans are doing the same. So much, in fact, that Kincade thinks he’s “absolutely misinformed to say that Eagles fans are chasing him out of town,” as some national experts have suggested. “This is a dispute within the organization. The overwhelming majority of fans wanted Carson to come back … Anyone who says otherwise is using lazy portrayals.”
Once again, but the Wentz-Eagles saga finally comes to an end, there will be a tragedy in the story: if he returns to form, he will have to do it elsewhere, either because he fled an open competition in a city. who always liked the save, because the Eagles undermined their biggest investment, or both. He’s destined, on the pitch, to be an even more controversial franchise legend than Donovan McNabb. If and when he leaves Philadelphia, he will do so as a broken hero or unwitting villain – Batman after Bane slams his back, or Harvey Dent after his toughness twists his own body and allies.
This does not mean that the good will be forgotten.
“I think he will always be part of the greatest sports story ever told in Philadelphia,” says Kincade. “He’s always going to be a part of it. The year they won it all he put the ball on the 25-yard line. And then Nick Foles took it… We love Nick Foles, but we love Carson too. ” “
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