Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz is progressing well from his back injury and sources say he has no limitations for on-field drills heading into the start of OTAs, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter) hears. The Eagles will be cautious with Wentz when things get underway on Tuesday, but he is expected to be involved in the majority of drills. 

Wentz has been unable to stay healthy the past couple of seasons, but the Eagles are all in-on the young QB after allowing Nick Foles to leave for the Jaguars. The 26-year-old was playing at an elite level in 2017 before tearing his ACL and LCL but was unable to really build off of that thanks to back problems in 2018.

Despite the health complications, the Eagles are already discussing an extension with Wentz that would take him beyond his fifth-year option season in 2020. That’s yet another sign that the Eagles believe in the long-term outlook of their franchise QB.

For his career, Wentz owns a 23-17 record, including an 11-2 mark in the 2017 season. Last year, Wentz completed a career-high 69.6% of his throws and threw for 21 touchdowns against seven interceptions in eleven games.

It’s going to be time for the 2016 draft class to start thinking about their next deals pretty soon. Anyone drafted in the second round or later is heading into the final year of their deal, while first-rounders still have their fifth-year options for 2020. A lot of the top players from 2016 will be inked to extensions soon, and it sounds like Carson Wentz could be taken care of in the near future. 

“My belief is that deal will get done at some point this offseason,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter said recently of a new pact between Wentz and the Eagles, per Tim McManus of ESPN.com. Schefter reports that the “two sides have begun talking” and that “both sides are motivated to get it done.” Schefter also cautions that nothing is particularly close, but that everyone thinks it’s going to get done this summer.

Interestingly, that’s in stark contrast to how the Rams are playing things with Jared Goff, the quarterback who went one spot ahead of Wentz in the draft. We heard in late March that Los Angeles hadn’t talked extension with Goff yet, and it didn’t seem like they were in any rush to do so.

Wentz has been unable to stay healthy the past couple of seasons, but the team is obviously all-in on him. They let Nick Foles walk in free agency, so it’s not like they have much of a choice. It’ll be very interesting to see what Wentz gets in the context of the quarterback market.

He was playing at an MVP-level before tearing his ACL and LCL in 2017, but he does have a troubling injury history. His camp isn’t going to take a discount however, and he’ll likely want to break the bank while resetting the market once again. Philly’s division rival, the Cowboys, are getting ready to pay Dak Prescott, and it’ll be fascinating to see how the two deals compare.

We heard back in March that the Eagles were optimistic about a Carson Wentz extension, and that still seems to be the case. Appearing on the 94WIP Morning Show, executive vice president of football operations Howie Roseman said he’s still planning on extending the franchise quarterback.

“This is something that we are planning to do and if the deal is right for us, and the deal is right for Carson, we wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger on that,” Roseman said (via Andrew Porter of Radio.com). “That’s just the amount of confidence we have and we want to build this team knowing kind of what that piece is in place and go forward.”

The Eagles recently picked up the former second-overall pick’s fifth-year option, meaning Wentz will earn $22.783MM in 2020. However, that means Wentz is only under contract for two more seasons. With quarterback salaries continuing to rise, it’s only natural that the front office would look to extend their quarterback as soon as possible.

Wentz has battled injuries throughout his career, and he’s missed the past two postseasons as he dealt with ACL and back injuries. The organization made it pretty clear that they were ready to move forward with Wentz after they let former Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles walk earlier this offseason. While some fans and pundits are wary of Wentz’s injury history, it doesn’t sound like the Eagles front office is all that concerned.

“I gotta be honest, I have so much faith in Carson Wentz,” Roseman said. “Obviously we put a lot on the line to draft him. He’s someone that we have total confidence. You see him around the building every day and he’s out on the field, it’s just—this guy is going to be a great player for the Philadelphia Eagles for a long time. This guy is going to be a great player for the Philadelphia Eagles for a long time.”

Wentz looked the part of a franchise quarterback when he was healthy in 2018. He finished the campaign with 3,074 yards and 21 touchdowns with a 69.6 completion percentage in 11 games. Despite his injuries, his on-field production has put him in line for a lucrative extension. After a few years of relative stagnancy, the quarterback market has transformed over the past year. With the Matt Ryan, Aaron Rodgers, and Russell Wilson extensions moving the AAV bar north of $30MM, Wentz would presumably be eyeing a similar deal. The longer the Eagles wait, the better chance there is of Wentz’s asking price increasing (assuming he stays healthy).

Shortly after the Eagles’ 2018 season ended, Carson Wentz was believed to be on track to be ready for the start of the team’s 2019 offseason program. That prospective return date has since been revised.

Wentz is not yet recovered from the back injury that ended his third NFL season. The fourth-year Philadelphia quarterback said (via Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer, on Twitter) he is progressing in his recovery from the 2018 stress fracture but is not there yet. Wentz’s return goal is now the Eagles’ OTA sessions, which are set for next month.

While Wentz has not returned to full strength, he did say (via NFL.com) he has been running and throwing some this offseason. The Eagles, who began their offseason program on Monday, have their OTAs scheduled to start May 21.

With Nick Foles now a Jaguar, the Eagles obviously need Wentz at full strength now more than they have the past two seasons. Wentz spent the 2018 offseason rehabbing from the torn knee ligaments that ended his 2017 season. A sizable chunk of this offseason will have been spent recovering from the back ailment that brought Foles back into action in December. After starting the first 29 games of his NFL career, the 26-year-old passer has missed eight over the past two seasons.

Nate Sudfeld has taken over for Foles as the Eagles’ backup quarterback. Although the new Philadelphia QB2 has served in this capacity frequently over the past two years, the former Washington sixth-round pick has thrown just 25 NFL passes. The Eagles placed a second-round RFA tender on Sudfeld; he signed the tender Monday.

While Carson Wentz‘s rapid rise from Division I-FCS prospect to 2017 MVP frontrunner preceded setbacks, the Eagles showed their belief in their starting quarterback by allowing Nick Foles to defect to the Jaguars.

An open-and-shut fifth-year option decision on Wentz is due by May 3. That would allow the Eagles to have him under contract through 2020. But Howie Roseman may not want to put an extension off much longer, confirming Monday he would like to extend the quarterback (Twitter link via Eliot Shorr-Parks of 94WIP.com).

Wentz has missed eight games over the past two seasons, his season-ending knee injury ending a 2017 MVP push and back trouble sidelining him last season. Both campaigns then featured Foles elevating the Eagles’ offense, winning Super Bowl LII MVP honors in one season and lifting Philly to a road playoff victory in another.

The Eagles rearranged their payroll considerably to move under the cap this month and used some of the space to bring DeSean Jackson back and add Malik Jackson. They still have more than $25MM in cap space.

The timing for a Wentz extension is interesting, given his injuries the past two seasons and $8.5MM cap number in 2019. But the Eagles have continually showed faith in their 26-year-old quarterback, whose back malady is not expected to linger long-term. (Though, back injuries certainly represent a cause for concern through a long-term lens.) He is expected to be ready for Philadelphia’s offseason program.

After a few years of relative stagnancy, the quarterback market has transformed over the past year. With the Matt Ryan and Aaron Rodgers extensions moving the AAV bar north of $30MM, the Packers signing their two-time MVP to a $33MM-per-year accord, a Wentz deal would be in line to step into that ballpark. The Eagles waiting until 2020 would stand to up Wentz’s price further, assuming he stays healthy, considering the Chiefs will then be in position to give Patrick Mahomes a possible market-shattering extension.

Wentz, by a considerable margin, established a new completion percentage standard last season (69.6 percent). His touchdown pass percentage dropped from 7.5 to 5.2 compared to his dominant 2017 showing, with the 11-game starter finishing with 21 TD tosses compared to 33 in 13 2017 games. The Eagles went 5-6 under Wentz last season, before Foles offered more late-season magic to steer the team to the playoffs.

Roseman, though, has long stood by his 2016 draft choice, and extension talks figure to transpire this offseason.

For the second consecutive season, an injury kept Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz out of the postseason in 2018. Unlike last season, however, the team’s franchise signal-caller is expected to be ready for the team’s offseason program in 2019, ESPN’s Adam Schefter writes. 

A stress fracture in his back sidelined the third-year quarterback for the final five games of the season. The Eagles once again rallied behind Nick Foles, however, made it to the playoffs and downed the NFC North champion Bears in the Wild Card round.

Though he will be healthy enough to take the field for the program in April, it remains to be seen if the Eagles want to run him back out there.

Schefter notes that some in the organization believe his back injury is related to the knee issues he had in 2017. There is no definitive proof to those theories, however.

With Foles expected to be starting in a new locale in 2019, the Eagles will not have the luxury of having arguably the league’s best backup should Wentz sustain another major injury in 2019.

Wentz looked the part of franchise quarterback when he was healthy in 2018. He finished the campaign with 3,074 yards and 21 touchdowns with a 69.6 completion percentage in 11 games.