Carson Wentz

Carson Wentz is set to face the Philadelphia Eagles next weekend for the first time since departing the franchise after the 2020 season, but he told reporters Sunday that he's going to treat the game like he would any other.

"Just another game," Wentz said after Washington's 36-27 loss to the Detroit Lions on Sunday.

The Eagles selected Wentz second overall in the 2016 NFL draft out of North Dakota State.

He spent the first five seasons of his career with the franchise, with his best year coming in 2017 when he led the Eagles to an 11-2 record in 13 games before suffering a torn ACL that ended his season.

Wentz completed 60.2 percent of his passes for 3,296 yards and 33 touchdowns against seven interceptions in 2017, and he finished third in MVP voting. He returned in 2018 and appeared in 11 games, and in 2019, he led the Eagles to an NFC East title.

However, he has become a shadow of his former self since recovering from his ACL injury.

During the 2020 campaign, Wentz started 12 games for the Eagles and went 3-8-1. He completed 57.4 percent of his passes for 2,620 yards and 16 touchdowns against an unacceptable 15 interceptions.

The Eagles went on to trade Wentz to the Indianapolis Colts ahead of the 2021 season in exchange for a 2021 third-round pick and a 2022 conditional second-round pick. The Colts hoped he could return to form under Frank Reich, who served as the Eagles offensive coordinator in 2016 and 2017.

While he put together a much better season than he did in 2020, his effort still wasn't enough for the Colts. In 17 games, he led Indy to a 9-8 record and completed 62.4 percent of his passes for 3,563 yards and 27 touchdowns against seven interceptions.

The Colts then traded him to the Commanders in March 2022.

In his Washington debut last weekend, he threw for 313 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions in a 28-22 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. In Sunday's loss to the Lions, he threw for 337 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.

With the Commanders sitting third in the NFC East at 1-1, Wentz and Co. will be looking to improve to 2-1 next weekend with a win over the Eagles.

During the Washington Commanders' training camp this summer, a number of videos have gone public showing new quarterback Carson Wentz appearing to struggle with his accuracy.

During an interview with Scott Abraham of 7News DC, Wentz addressed those missed throws:

I'm my biggest critic, so I come back after practice and I kick myself over one, two three, four, five plays. But at the same time, there's usually things we can learn from it. There's usually like, 'OK here's what I was seeing, this is what I was feeling,' and then go talk to the receiver. 'Hey Terry [McLaurin], what were you feeling on that one?' Maybe shutting it down in that zone, or ripping through that zone. Different things that opens up conversations.

So I'm definitely bummed when I miss them, but at the same time, let's use them as learning opportunities because it is a lot of our first times together. There's been OTAs, but a lot of it is new and more or less 'live reps' against our defense. Just seeing things different, so trying to be as clean as I can be. Hasn't been perfect by any means and I can continue to get better and I will. But at the same time, I try not to beat myself up over it and say, 'Hey, how can we learn from it so it doesn't happen the next time, but especially on Sundays this year.'

Washington head coach Ron Rivera has defended his quarterback this week, telling reporters he believes the accuracy concerns are overblown.

"It's a lot better than you give him credit for, just because of the way things happen in practice," he said. "There's a lot of little nuances that we see that we look at that we get to review. Yeah, there's some inaccuracy. But it's nothing that we are overly concerned [about]."

Rivera also said he wasn't worried about anything that happened between Wentz and his two former organizations, the Philadelphia Eagles and Indianapolis Colts, who each gave up on the veteran quarterback.

"The narratives are all unfair," he said. "I mean, obviously he left each place for their reasons. OK, great—that's their reasons. He's here for our reason. He's here because we want him here. He's here because we see what he can do, we see what he's done. And based on what we do, we see there's an opportunity. And that's why he's here."

"And we have a lot of confidence in what we've seen so far," he continued. "The guys have all assimilated to him. They've rallied around him. And that's a huge plus because, again, based on what we went through for the last couple of years—and probably before I got here—trying to find the quarterback."

But despite what Wentz and Rivera say, it's hard to note that some of the quarterback's throws in camp and decisions have been downright poor:

Granted, what happens in the games is far more important than what occurs on the practice field, as players get back into the swing of things. But accuracy has been an issue for Wentz, as evidenced by his 62.6 career completion percentage and 57 interceptions in 85 career starts, including an NFL-worst 15 in the 2020 season.

That and the tendency to hold onto the ball too long have always been knocks against Wentz. And dating back to the 2018 season, his teams have gone just 26-29-1 in his starts.

Washington will be hoping to rediscover the version of Wentz that looked like an MVP candidate in 2017 (33 touchdowns, seven interceptions in 13 games) before he tore his ACL. That player looked like a burgeoning superstar. In the years that followed, Wentz showed flashes of that level of play but struggled to consistently perform.

The Wentz that shows up for the Commanders in 2022 will ultimately determine the fate of their season.

The last two offseasons have seen Carson Wentz make unceremonious exits from Indianapolis and Philadelphia, leading to a reputation that the quarterback is difficult to work with.

Washington Commanders coach Ron Rivera does not seem to have had the same experience.

"The narratives are all unfair," Rivera said Wednesday on SiriusXM. "I mean, obviously he left each place for their reasons. OK, great—that’s their reasons. He’s here for our reason. He’s here because we want him here. He’s here because we see what he can do, we see what he’s done. And based on what we do, we see there’s an opportunity. And that’s why he’s here.

"And we have a lot of confidence in what we’ve seen so far. The guys have all assimilated to him. They’ve rallied around him. And that’s a huge plus because, again, based on what we went through for the last couple of years—and probably before I got here—trying to find the quarterback."

While Rivera seems to have a solid relationship with Wentz, it's hard to categorize his reputation as "unfair." The Eagles took a $33.8 million dead-cap hit to trade Wentz last offseason, and the Colts dumped him off a year later in a deal that was a washing of their hands of the Wentz experience.

“It's just, for us, it was just it was something that we had to move away from as a franchise — it was very obvious,” Colts owner Jim Irsay told Zak Keefer of The Athletic.

That's not exactly what an owner typically says about a player who had a great reputation around the locker room. Keefer also reported Colts coach Frank Reich apologized to Irsay for vouching for Wentz when Indianapolis made the trade last March.

Wentz threw for 3,563 yards and 27 touchdowns against seven interceptions last season, numbers that were more than strong enough to bring him back if there weren't other issues. While it's clear he's not an elite NFL starter, Wentz finished ninth in the NFL in QBR last season and outperformed Matt Ryan, his replacement in Indianapolis, by every objective measure.

It's possible Rivera is getting the best possible version of Wentz and this latest change of scenery will work out swimmingly. That said, Wentz's falling out in his first two NFL stops is likely playing a factor in his desire to make this situation work.

Washington Commanders head coach Ron Rivera defended Carson Wentz amid reports of inaccuracy in training camp:

"It’s a lot better than you give him credit for, just because of the way things happen in practice," Rivera said (h/t Myles Simmons of ProFootballTalk). "There’s a lot of little nuances that we see that we look at that we get to review. Yeah, there’s some inaccuracy. But it’s nothing that we are overly concerned [about]."

The question about Wentz's accuracy issues came after Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post detailed the problem after Saturday's practice:

Wentz heads into 2022 under a lot of pressure after being traded in each of the last two offseasons. After a strong first four seasons in the NFL, he struggled with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2020 and was up-and-down with the Indianapolis Colts in 2021.

The 29-year-old has a chance at a fresh start in Washington, but the first impression is not promising.

After trusting Carson Wentz as their starting quarterback in 2021, the Indianapolis Colts were looking for any other option this offseason.

"They were telling us they would prefer anyone over him," an NFL executive told Mike Sando of The Athletic.

Wentz was placed in Tier 3 in a vote of league personnel for the top quarterbacks in the NFL, tying with Jalen Hurts for 20th overall. The same executive explained the low ranking:

"The only reason I'm this strong against him is that is my evaluation from watching him play. But adding information of what the team that is with him on an intimate level on a daily basis, by going from having Wentz to having none, zero, that tells me that my evaluation of him from afar matches the evaluation internally. If Carson Wentz was not a first-round pick, would he be in the league right now?

The Colts traded Wentz to the Washington Commanders in exchange for a 2022 third-round pick, a conditional third-rounder in 2023, and a swap of 2022 second-round picks that moved Washington up five spots.

It came one year after Indianapolis traded a 2021 third-round pick and what eventually became a 2022 first-round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles for Wentz.

Indianapolis eventually found a quality replacement in Matt Ryan, but it wasn't even known if he was available when Wentz was traded. The team instead had Sam Ehlinger on top of its draft chart for several weeks after dealing away last year's starter.

Wentz has produced quality numbers in his career, most notably in 2017 when he was an MVP candidate with the Philadelphia Eagles. He finished last year with 3,563 passing yards, 27 touchdowns and just seven interceptions.

His 94.6 quarterback rating was 13th in the NFL among qualified players, and it was the fourth time in six years he had at least a 90 rating.

The Colts were still a disappointment last season, missing the playoffs with a 9-8 record. Wentz was a big part of the team's inconsistency, especially struggling in the final two losses as the squad fell short of the postseason. He tallied only 185 passing yards on 17-of-29 passing in the Week 18, 26-11 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars with the season on the line.

Indianapolis needed a fresh start and got it by dealing away Wentz.

Washington Commanders quarterback Carson Wentz downplayed comments from Troy Aikman that this season could be his final opportunity to prove himself as a franchise player.

Speaking to reporters after a minicamp practice, Wentz admitted he wasn't even aware of Aikman's comments.

"You know, everyone's got their own opinion. I'm just excited to be playing this game, have this opportunity. I think we have the ability to do something special here and then we have a really good skill set offensively to be dynamic. It takes one day at a time, obviously, but for me, I don't try to put too much pressure on myself. I always have high expectations for myself and for the offense, but I don't try and play those types of games. I don't have enough mental space to kind of process all that and it can wear on you. So for me, I just show up to try and be the best I can be, go home and be the best I can be as a father and as a husband, come back and do it again."

During a conference call with reporters last month, Aikman said this is probably Wentz's "last opportunity, just being blunt about it, to prove that he can be a franchise quarterback in the NFL."

The Commanders are Wentz's third team in the past three seasons. They acquired him, along with two draft picks, from the Indianapolis Colts in exchange for three draft picks in March.

Indianapolis acquired Wentz from the Philadelphia Eagles in March 2021 for two picks. The deal reunited the 2017 Pro Bowler with Frank Reich, who was Philadelphia's offensive coordinator for his first two seasons in the NFL.

The Colts traded a 2021 third-round draft pick and a conditional 2022 pick that wound up being a first-rounder because Wentz played more than 70 percent of their offensive snaps.

Wentz had a solid statistical season with the Colts in 2021. He threw for 3,563 yards and 27 touchdowns with a 62.4 completion percentage in 17 starts.

Things ended badly for Wentz and the Colts. They lost their final two games of the regular season, including a 26-11 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 18, to miss the playoffs.

Per The Athletic's Zak Keefer, the Colts had numerous issues with Wentz that go back to before the 2021 season began:

"As for the Colts, the issues with Wentz stretched back to before the season began, one source said, and over the course of the year, some grew frustrated at what they deemed a lack of leadership, a resistance to hard coaching and a reckless style of play, which had a role in several close losses this year."

At one point, Wentz looked like he was going to be Philadelphia's franchise quarterback. He was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2016 draft and was having an MVP-caliber season in 2017 before tearing his ACL in Week 14.

The Eagles went on to win Super Bowl LII with Nick Foles at quarterback. Wentz had intermittent success over the next three seasons in Philadelphia. The 29-year-old bottomed out in 2020 throwing 15 interceptions, tied for most in the NFL.

Washington is hoping Wentz can provide stability at quarterback. The franchise has started eight different players at the position since the start of the 2019 season.

The Commanders haven't had a winning record since 2016.