Mike Mayock Is Also In Love With Carson Wentz

It’s been reported numerous times that Eagles head coach Doug Pederson is love with North Dakota State quarterback prospect Carson Wentz, but he’s not the only one.  NFL Network Draft expert Mike Mayock who spends countless hours studying these draft picks, as well as talking to coaches, scouts and player personnel people throughout league, is also in love with Wentz.

Mayock explained to Philly.com’s Paul Domowitch, why he fell in love with the young signal caller.

“The more I’ve gotten to know the kid and talk to the people around him, the more I like him”, Mayock said. “I can watch all the tape I want and judge arm strength and physical running ability, which he has in spades. But it’s the intangibles at that position (that make the difference). And I’m getting a really positive feeling both with my interaction with him and also indirectly (talking to scouts) throughout the league.”

I tried to stress the fact that most of the NFL coaches and player personnel people that have come into contact with Wentz believe he has the intangibles, which take a very good quarterback and make him a franchise quarterback and eventually a champion.

“I took a bunch of crap for saying both Wentz and (Jared) Goff are in the conversation with (Marcus) Mariota and (Jameis) Winston,” Mayock went on to say.  “But I believe that. I believe all four of them are franchise quarterbacks. I don’t have any concerns about the level of competition that Wentz played. A bigger concern for me was that he started only 23 games. That made me a little bit nervous. But he erased that concern at the Senior Bowl. The fact that he has experience under center, called stuff at the line of scrimmage. He’s really good at the line of scrimmage and had complete freedom getting in and out of plays.”

This is a tremendous intangible in today’s NFL.  Only the better quarterbacks in the National Football League are given the freedom to run the offense from the line of scrimmage and Wentz was doing this in a Pro Style offense rather than a spread offense for the last couple of years.

“Even though he played in Division I-AA, that’s rare in today’s quarterback world”, Mayock continued. “Would I like for him to have an opportunity to play behind somebody for a while? Yeah. I mean I’d hate to see him get thrown in Day 1 in Cleveland and get his ass whooped out of the gate. (Joe) Flacco, who also came out of I-AA, only started 27 games in college and started every game as a rookie. But he had a run game and a defense.”

This is a glowing report from Mayock on Wentz, but former NFL head coach and quarterback guru Jon Gruden gave the same assessment of Wentz, after he worked with him a couple of days as they shot his “Gruden’s QB Camp” for ESPN.  Gruden said he wished he could coach the youngster from Bismarck, North Dakota.

You can also add my former Eagles teammate ESPN’s Ron Jaworski also spoke glowingly about Wentz and he emphasized his football acumen and the fact that he has been playing in a NFL-style offense for the last five years.  The fact that he’s been playing in a NFL-style offense with many of the same plays and reads, gives him a tremendous advantage over other young quarterbacks, who are coming into the league.

You can see why Pederson is so in love with this guy.  Unfortunately there are other teams in love with him as well and the Tennessee Titans are going to want a King’s Ransom to give up that first overall pick.