Carson Wentz: I’m ‘Very Excited’ To Start Week 1

Carson Wentz. (Jeff Fusco)

Carson Wentz was lying in the middle of a New Jersey cornfield Saturday morning hunting geese when he first got the call about the Sam Bradford trade. Not long after, he was told he would start against the Browns in the Eagles’ season-opener, so he quickly cleaned himself up and left to prepare for Cleveland.

“All along it was just getting ready for whenever this time would come. I knew I was ready,” Wentz said. “I knew I was taking the mental reps being out the last couple weeks. Even going into the first preseason game, I felt very confident. I felt like I developed at a fast pace and now it’s here. I’m really confident in myself and confident in this team and I’m excited for it.”

Wentz was technically cleared for contact today, but he’s known for a few days he would most likely be available if he needed to be. He’s no longer experiencing soreness in his ribs, and although his 11th rib was only 60 percent healed last week, he noted he’s “good to go.”

Shortly after finding out about the trade, Wentz called Bradford to thank him for “being a mentor.” Now, Wentz will be making the calls during the game before the snap, and he’ll need to get comfortable with the first-team offensive line — a unit he hasn’t played with until this week. Because of his inexperience, he knows he’ll likely hit some rough patches this season.

“That’s the way life is. That’s the way the game of football is. Young quarterbacks usually experience some bumps in the road and I’m just going to take them in stride,” Wentz said. “I’m going to learn from my mistakes and I’m just going to keep getting better and keep putting this team in good situations to win some ball games.”

Although he’s only played in one preseason game, Wentz noted multiple times how he’s “very confident” and “very excited” to start. He walked away from his preseason debut “extra confident” because he didn’t feel overwhelmed, but he acknowledges he has a long week ahead of him.

“[I need to] get in the film room and study the Browns. We had a little jump start on them going back last week and [I] really just got to prepare my tail off,” Wentz said. “Who knows what they’re going to do [with me] being a young quarterback and all. We’ll see what they want to do, but just go prepare and get on the same page with the o-line [and] the whole offense. I’m excited for it.”