Carson Wentz, at the Super Bowl, taking steps to reach NFL pinnacle

HOUSTON – As Carson Wentz spoke, a large banner with Tom Brady and Matt Ryan facsimiles loomed large overhead in the background.

The Eagles quarterback was making his first appearance at the Super Bowl on Thursday. But Wentz was here obviously not to compete in Sunday's game, but for promotional reasons. He hopes someday to be back as a player. He hopes someday that it will be his image on advertisements throughout the host city.

"It's been frustrating. I'm not going to lie," Wentz acknowledged. "I don't ever not want to be playing in January ever again."

We're into February, clearly, but you can't get there without winning playoff games in January, and Wentz has yet to taste that sensation. Patience is something the 24-year-old continues to work on. At the end of the season, he promised Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich that he wouldn't throw for at least a month, and aside from the four passes he tossed on the set of NFL Network's "Good Morning Football," Wentz said he has kept his word.

"The first couple of weeks, it was good," Wentz said, "but then watching some of these [playoff] games, I was like, 'Man, I just want to go in the backyard and throw it around.' "

For the first time in a long while, Wentz has had little required of him for an extended period of time. When he met with reporters at the conclusion of his rookie season a month ago, he said he would take the next several weeks to reflect on a whirlwind 2016.

"Honestly, it was probably everything I expected," Wentz said of his first year in the NFL. "The mental side of it – it was hard, but it wasn't overwhelming by any means. Everybody is bigger, faster, stronger – that was evident early on. But so were the guys next to me."

Not exactly. The Eagles have made it abundantly clear that Wentz didn't have enough able sidemen, particularly at the skill positions, and that they will go to lengths this offseason to upgrade. Howie Roseman, Eagles executive vice president of football operations, even said last week that the team has taken the young quarterback's input on personnel and will continue to do so when league rules permit.

"It just ultimately shows that they trust me," Wentz said. "I don't know how real in-depth it will be, but it's nice to know they want me to at least have a little opinion, a little input."

While last offseason for the Eagles was all about moving up in the draft to get Wentz, this year will be about acquiring pieces to aid him. Roseman and Joe Douglas, vice president of player personnel, said as much last week at the Senior Bowl. They will do the bidding of owner Jeffrey Lurie, who is pushing for more skill-position talent, per sources familiar with his thinking.

"I don't know what's going to happen, and I'm not going to speculate because it's a ways away," Wentz said. "But it's exciting to know that they want to do this the right way. But at the end of the day, if we're back with the same guys, I'm extremely excited about that, too."

Barring something unforeseen, wide receiver Jordan Matthews, tight end Zach Ertz and running back Darren Sproles -- Wentz's top three targets -- will be back next season. But almost everyone else is negotiable. What will remain consistent are Wentz's coaches.

Lurie blocked Eagles quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo from interviewing for the New York Jets' offensive coordinator job – and presumably the other opportunities he would have had – because, in part, he didn't want to disrupt Wentz's development.

"We got a year under our belt now, and we've kind of grown together," Wentz said of DeFilippo. "He's learned a lot about me. I've learned a lot about how he operates. And it will just keep growing. Having that continuity year-in and year-out, it's hard to do in this league."

Wentz can't work with DeFilippo, Reich and head coach Doug Pederson until Eagles workouts begin in late April, however. So when he resumes full-time throwing – his representatives expect that to be sometime in late February – Wentz will train with Adam Dedeaux in Irvine, Calif.

Dedeaux, who recently purchased noted quarterback guru Tom House's 3DQB company, uses biomechanics to improve many of his clients' deliveries.

"We'll see what it is. I'm not going like crazy with it. I'm going to learn," Wentz said. "At the end of the day, there isn't going to be any mass overhaul. It's just refining everything and making everything more efficient."

Despite some mechanical breakdowns as the season wore on, Wentz's improvement in situational football over the last month suggested that his arc was pointed upward. He was more effective in late-game moments and had become more comfortable with extending plays.

The Eagles won their final two games, after losing five in a row, to finish 7-9. There were reasons for optimism.

"We realize that there's a lot to be done, but at the same time, we realize we're a couple plays away in every one of those games," Wentz said. "So we realize we're close and I think a year that we all have together and now this offseason growing together will be huge."

Wentz said that he has yet to finalize plans to train with Matthews, Ertz and other teammates, but that they will gather some week before they are to return formally to the NovaCare Complex. He said he has spent most of the last month in Philadelphia, but does plan to get away for a vacation.

He spent Thursday making the rounds at Radio Row and has several more appearances scheduled for Friday before he departs. Maybe he'll get another chance to improve upon his "Good Morning Football" performance.

"I was 2 for 4 on the targets," Wentz said. "I wish I was better."

All in due time.