Carson Wentz’s Path To Success
Carson Wentz. (Jeff Fusco)
The Eagles have not had a successful franchise quarterback since they drafted Donovan McNabb back in 1999. Since the team traded McNabb to Washington in the 2010 offseason, they’ve went through Kevin Kolb, Michael Vick, Vince Young, Nick Foles, Mark Sanchez and now Sam Bradford in a span of six seasons.
When the team decided to trade up for the No. 2 pick in this year’s draft to select Carson Wentz, the move signaled a team that’s willing to do whatever it takes to get a franchise quarterback. Whenever Wentz gets to become the full time starter, whether it’s during this season or next, what are some benchmarks that he should hit?
We took a look at 15 different quarterbacks and observed some of their firsts, including when they became a full-time starter, when they were named to their first Pro Bowl, when they won their first playoff game and when they won their first Super Bowl. An asterisk denotes that the event occurred in the middle of the season.
| Player | Starter | PB | PO Win | SB Win |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donovan McNabb | Year 1* | Year 2 | Year 2 | None |
| Ben Roethlisberger | Year 1* | Year 3 | Year 1 | Year 2 |
| Peyton Manning | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 6 | Year 9 |
| Eli Manning | Year 2 | Year 5 | Year 4 | Year 4 |
| Drew Brees | Year 2 | Year 4 | Year 6 | Year 9 |
| Aaron Rodgers | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 | Year 6 |
| Joe Flacco | Year 1 | Year 8 | Year 1 | Year 5 |
| Russell Wilson | Year 1 | Year 1 | Year 1 | Year 2 |
| Tom Brady | Year 2* | Year 2 | Year 2 | Year 2 |
| Andrew Luck | Year 1 | Year 1 | Year 2 | None |
| Cam Newton | Year 1 | Year 1 | Year 4 | None |
| Matt Ryan | Year 1 | Year 3 | Year 5 | None |
| Brett Favre | Year 2* | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 6 |
| Tony Romo | Year 4* | Year 4 | Year 7 | None |
| Philip Rivers | Year 3 | Year 3 | Year 4 | None |
After taking a look at these selected quarterbacks, six of them began their rookie season as the starter, while two more took over in the middle of that season. Besides Aaron Rodgers and Tony Romo, the others became the starter in either their second or third season, which Wentz could do as well.
When it comes to making his first Pro Bowl, most of these quarterbacks were named to their first Pro Bowl before entering their fourth season as the starter, with the exceptions of Eli Manning and Joe Flacco.
As for winning his first playoff game, it took an average of 3.6 seasons for that to happen with the quarterbacks selected. That can be a shaky number, given the situation that some of these quarterbacks were in. For example, Rodgers sat behind Brett Favre for three seasons before starting in year four and winning his first playoff game (and later Super Bowl) in his sixth season.
And for making the Super Bowl, 11 of the passers selected have appeared in the “Big Game.” Many of them appeared before their sixth year in the league, but it may be safe to say that, if Wentz will make the Super Bowl, he’ll do so before year 10.
Wentz will need time to develop into a potential franchise quarterback. Learning and watching the offense this season will most likely benefit him for the future. It also helps that Howie Roseman went and locked up core players to long-term deals who will surround Wentz for seasons to come, such as Zach Ertz and Lane Johnson.
If Wentz stays on track with many of these franchise quarterbacks on the list, the picks Roseman gave up to get Wentz will look like a bargain.