Carson Wentz will need someone to step up on Eagles offense | Early Birds

Good morning. The Eagles will start preparing for the Week 3 game against the Indianapolis Colts with Carson Wentz back at quarterback. Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz and offensive coordinator Mike Groh have news conferences beginning at 1:45 p.m.

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— Zach Berman

After months of speculation and anticipation, the answer to the question of when Carson Wentz will return is Week 3. Although he wanted to play Week 1, a Week 3 return is still impressive considering his Dec. 10 injury and Dec. 13 surgery. He'll play his first game nine months and two weeks after surgery. Doug Pederson said there was no thought to holding Wentz back any longer, and that's the right approach. As Pederson said, it was a medical decision. Once Wentz is cleared, he plays. So when he received medical clearance on Monday, there didn't need to be a decision from the coach.

The question will now shift to how Wentz will do in his return. Pederson said it's "going to take some time to get back into the rhythm and the flow of the game," although that might have been Pederson tempering expectations. Wentz has been practicing for much of the summer, and though the game speed is different on Sundays, Wentz will be ready. He might not look like the Wentz of last October, but he'll still be a high-level quarterback.

What must be considered, though, is the injuries at wide receiver. Zach Ertz said the Eagles cannot expect Wentz to be Superman. The Eagles still have issues on offense without three of their projected top four receivers entering the season. Wentz is going to need some help, and it'll be interesting to see what the coaching staff does and who steps up on offense.

The bad news for the Eagles was that Mike Wallace fractured his fibula. The silver lining, if there was one, was that the Eagles are not putting Wallace on injured reserve at the moment. They're not looking at it yet as a season-ending injury, pending more tests. If Wallace is out only for a few weeks, as Pederson said, then the Eagles will have the deep threat back this season. If it turns out he misses the season, then the Eagles will be down one of their offensive weapons.

Regardless, they won't have him in the short-term. They also remain without Alshon Jeffery, who still has not been cleared while recovering from offseason rotator-cuff surgery. Mack Hollins is on injured reserve, and though he might return, that wouldn't be until later in the season.

So the Eagles' healthy wide receivers are Nelson Agholor, Shelton Gibson, DeAndre Carter, and Kamar Aiken. That's not good. They have Zach Ertz (and Dallas Goedert and Joshua Perkins) at tight end, along with Corey Clement and Darren Sproles (when healthy) catching out of the backfield, so there are other options. But the Eagles need more from their wide receivers.

Pederson mentioned that the Eagles will look to upgrade and prefer a veteran wide receiver. The New England Patriots traded for Josh Gordon on Monday, so take him off the list. The Eagles can try to trade for a player who has fallen out of favor elsewhere, although they need to decide why the other team is willing to let him go. They could look at the free-agent market, where Jeremy Maclin is among a group of established veterans available. But in Week 3, it's worth wondering why a player is unsigned and how healthy he is.

Jeffery should return soon, which will be a major help. But this could be a week for Howie Roseman and Co. to try to see what they can do to upgrade.

What stood out on the playing-time distribution this week?

Clearly, the lack of playing time for Goedert. He took only 22 percent of the offensive snaps. Perkins took 33 percent of the snaps, although the Eagles used Perkins almost like an extra wide receiver.  Aiken took 78 percent of the snaps in his first game of the season, and the Eagles dropped Carter down to 24 percent of the snaps after he had a bigger workload in Week 1. At running back, Wendell Smallwood was up to 30 percent of the offensive snaps with Darren Sproles out and Jay Ajayi missing much of the first half.

On defense, Kamu Grugier-Hill is the starting weakside linebacker over Nate Gerry. He took 38 percent of the defensive snaps. Haloti Ngata (62 percent of the defensive snaps) played more than Destiny Vaeao (40 percent) at defensive tackle. One week after Fletcher Cox played 93 percent of the defensive snaps, he was down to 79 percent on a hot day in Tampa.

There's no easy solution. They need Alshon Jeffery to recover quickly. Otherwise, I don't think the Eagles have the personnel. They can scan the trade market and offer an enticing pick if it's a player who can truly contribute, but it's hard to introduce a player into the offense at this point of the year. It's not impossible and the player can focus on one spot, but expectations must be tempered. They can go after a player with experience in the system, such as Jeremy Maclin, but health must be taken into consideration.

They also can get Goedert more involved and use their running backs in the passing game. That's an easy fix. Whatever is keeping Goedert back, the Eagles need him to grow up quickly. He was their top draft pick this year. They need him to contribute. Corey Clement makes plays out of the backfield, and I'd increase his targets. Doug Pederson can get creative. But I can't emphasize it enough: They need Jeffery back.