Eagles QB coach ‘pleasantly surprised’ with Carson Wentz

The Philadelphia Eagles drafted former North Dakota State quarterback Carson Wentz with the second overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft in late April. While many believe that the job is Sam Bradford’s to lose, that doesn’t mean Wentz hasn’t been making good progress over the last month.

Eagles quarterback coach Joe DeFilippo has worked with his fair share of young quarterbacks in the past. However, Wentz has apparently surpassed all of the coach’s expectations over the first month together.

I don’t want to say there’s anything that surprised me,” DeFilippo told Zach Brown of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I think there were some things that I thought he would need a little more work with it than he does. He’s further along from a seeing-the-field standpoint than I thought he would be. He’s further along from a playing speed standpoint than I thought he would be coming from the FCS level. Those are things that I guess you can say I’m pleasantly surprised with, but not shocked.”

DeFilippo is likely not shocked with the way Carson Wentz has progressed because he was an instrumental piece into the team actually drafting the former Bison quarterback. He was very thorough in his pre-draft study, even more so than with some other quarterbacks he has worked with.

“I think just his overall physicality, his size, the way he can run for a guy that’s that big,” DeFilippo said. “Obviously his mental makeup and character are off the charts. Those are the things that jumped off to me. You can go out and watch anyone throw a football. But when you can combine the mental part of the game that he has, the physical part of the game he has, and the off-the-field character, it was a no-brainer.”

It is certainly going to be interesting to see where the Eagles go from here going into the 2016 season. Will they go with their top pick and play Wentz Week 1 or will Bradford have the chance to prove himself?

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