Carson Wentz is still in Indianapolis, two weeks after the Colts’ veterans broke for the summer—which was part of an agreement the team’s player leadership came to with the coaches to abbreviate the offseason program. No one suggested he stay. For Wentz, and where he is right now as a player, he saw it as the right thing, so he just did it.
That meant, during the week of Memorial Day, taking part in what coach Frank Reich had set up as a tacked-on, rookies-only week of OTAs, and a few of the receivers stuck around for that too. Last week, he threw some more in Indy with those guys, and this coming week, his throwing coach, Adam Dedeaux, is coming into town for some more individualized technical tune-up work.
And in July, Wentz will host a bunch of offensive skill players at his offseason home near Houston for a few days of throwing, Topgolf and just hanging out.
“We have good connections there for where we can go work out and have some fun,” Wentz said over the phone, on his way to a workout on Thursday. “It’s kind of a central place where it’s gonna be plenty hot, so guys can get acclimated for camp.”
No one needs to tell Wentz what he’s got on the line in 2021.
In so many ways, he’s been granted a second NFL life after the Eagles traded him to a place that’s about perfect for him—from the coaching staff to the infrastructure of the roster around him to the region of the country he’s moving back to—and he’s not taking that new lease lightly. But in another way, what he has done and will be doing through the months of June and July is probably what he’d be doing anyway.
And if you need affirmation of that, Colts coach Frank Reich, Wentz’s coordinator in Philly during his first two years in the NFL, will give that to you. In that regard, the Wentz he’s seeing now is the Wentz he’s always known.
“I mean, anybody who’s been around Carson knows,” Reich said the other day. “There are many things that you cannot question, and certainly work ethic is one of them. Like a lot of our players, I’m not saying he works harder than them, but he works really, really hard. Very detailed in his work, very committed and very determined. … Some of it’s not uncommon. But it’s just the way he’s going about it, I think that is very good.”
In other words, Wentz is just being himself. He and the Colts know this time of year—with no losses incurred, sacks taken or interceptions thrown—it’s easy for him to be. The idea, of course, is for Wentz to be himself again, as he and Reich see him, when it’s not so easy.
For now? He’s doing everything he can to get there.
