Yesterday, ESPN NFL reporter Chris Mortensen let the NFL fans know that Eagles franchise quarterback Carson Wentz has been okayed to do 11-on-11 drills at practice on Sunday afternoon. This is one of the steps needed to give Wentz one of the two okays necessary in order for him to return to action. Although he can now participate in the 11-on-11 drills, he will still need to be cleared to take part in full go tackle action before he can play.
This has to be a shot in the arm for Wentz, who seemed discouraged as he was telling us last week that it was going to be very close for him to be cleared to play in that first game against the Atlanta Falcons on September 6. Now he’s only one clearing away from getting the go ahead to play in the season’s first game.
At the start of training camp, Wentz was participating in everything the quarterbacks were doing including the 11-on-11 work, then the Eagles dialed things back and lowered his participation level. Eagles head coach Doug Pederson said this was part of the big plan that had been put together by the doctors and the team’s administration for the Wentz return to action.
Mortensen also reported that the clearing for Wentz to participate in the 11-on-11 drills had nothing at all to do with Nick Foles straining his shoulder in the preseason game against the New England Patriots.
In other Eagles news, the Birds signed Arena Bowl MVP Darius Prince. Prince is a wide receiver who never played college football, but debuted for the Philadelphia Soul in the 2017 playoffs. In the recently concluded 2018 season, Prince had a league-high 89 catches for 1024 yards with 24 touchdowns in only 12 games.
