Malcolm Jenkins: Eagles hurt Carson Wentz by ‘trying to protect his ego’

For a guy who hasn’t spoken publicly since early December almost two months ago, it looks like we spend a lot of time talking about Carson Wentz.

Part of that has to do with the nature of the beast – he’s the highest paid player on the most popular team in town, playing the most important (and unique) position in all sports. This is in part because her silence created a void which, as expected, is filled by the opinions of others rather than her own feelings on the matter. And part of that is due to the fact that the Eagles were an absolute dumpster fire in 2020 and Wentz played a big role in that, as he played the worst football of his career last season and ultimately made it through. was benched in favor of a rookie, which led to the ousting of the only coach in franchise history to win a Super Bowl title, Doug Pederson, just three years after leading a parade on Broad Street.

On top of all that, it seems like every week a new story unfolds about Wentz and his behavior inside the NovaCare complex, from isolating his teammates, to his refusal to accept coaching or take responsibility, or hit your head with Pederson.

These kinds of leaks have been happening for over two years now, even as the players and coaches around him have changed. It’s clearly disturbing, and on Friday one of Wentz’s former teammates – not just any teammate, but an undisputed leader in the locker room during his time at Philly – put a bit more context on the struggles surrounding the 28-year-old quarterback. Most importantly, he put his name on it.

Here’s more for Eagles captain Malcolm Jenkins’ appearance on The Rich Eisen Show, in which the security veteran explained why he believes Wentz suffered a historic regression in 2020, courtesy of Mike Kaye of NJ.com …

“There was too much leeway and that didn’t make him a better player,” Jenkins said. “I don’t think they did him a favor by trying to protect his ego or trying to really protect him as a player, rather than keeping him like all the other players and keeping him based on performance and d ‘be really real about what he needed. to improve – but also to adapt to put him in a position to succeed. I think it’s a bit on the coaching staff, it’s also a certain responsibility on the player.

With Pederson out of the mix, Wentz still stays. Sirianni will try to fix Wentz’s game, but Jenkins believes it’s up to the quarterback to fix himself this offseason.

“Every player should come in every offseason, evaluating what they’ve done well, what they haven’t done well,” Jenkins said. “You’re looking to see improvement year after year. But, if it doesn’t, and you don’t see it, and there’s no change, and it’s not addressed, as a player you almost feel like “What are we doing?” To do the same thing over and over again and expect the same results is madness. Sadly I think a bit of that has happened there over the last few years and obviously this offseason has shown some things need to change in major ways. Carson is still there – and no matter who they call on him to coach and improve – he’s still going to have to improve as a player for this team to be successful. [nj.com]

The question now is whether he can actually make the necessary adjustments to improve his game and return to the form we have seen in previous years. There is also the question of whether or not he will return with the Eagles next season.

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For starters, there’s Wentz’s reported desire to seek a trade if he’s not the starting quarterback next season. It comes with its own set of issues, not least of which is its huge salary cap that the Eagles would always be forced to take, combined with what will certainly be diminished value after a worst year in a career. Then there’s the question of how tied the Eagles are with Wentz, new head coach Nick Sirianni did not commit during his introductory press conference on Friday.

“I can’t answer that,” Sirianni said when asked if Wentz will be back next season. “Again, [we’re] evaluate everything. Evaluate everything and, again, there is a lot to do to evaluate everything. “

This is in addition to the fact that Sirianni said the team had “two top-notch quarterbacks” at Wentz and Jalen Hurts, as well as telling him that he hadn’t even started to think about when he would like his. quarterback situation be resolved.

One thing seems certain, however. If the Eagles decide to keep Wentz, they will not only have to fix the quarterback, but they will also have to fix the way he was trained. Having new staff around certainly helps, but it’s still a daunting task for a new coach who might not even outperform his quarterback in the eyes of his bosses.

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