Wentz seems as excited as the Eagles

CHICAGO - It will be the moment people point to, the photo they retweet, or whatever people end up doing with photos in five or 10 or 20 years: Carson Wentz standing with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, holding up an Eagles jersey with "Wentz 1" on it.

They will bring it out if the Eagles win a Super Bowl with Wentz as their quarterback, or even if they become consistent contenders with him at the helm. They will bring it out, maybe even more often, if Wentz is out of the league in five or six years and the Eagles are floating lifeless at the bottom of the NFC East.

Moments in the life of a franchise. The last one this big, a busload of fans were booing Donovan McNabb as he stood with Paul Tagliabue in New York, 17 years ago.

Wentz might need the photo as a reminder of the moment he was introduced as an Eagle, because he barely remembers striding across the stage.

"It all happened so fast," Wentz said, when asked if he'd heard Eagles fans cheering for him at the Roosevelt University Auditorium Theatre Thursday night, when he was announced as the second overall selection in the 2016 NFL draft. "I could hear some of my buddies yelling, I could hear a lot of things. There were a couple of Bison fans in the front row. It was hard to really tell what was going on, but it was a pretty surreal moment walking out there . . . Went really quick."

Wentz reiterated that he really, truly didn't know for sure the Eagles were taking him, even though that was what everyone was telling him, and how his agents sussed it out, from the moment the Birds traded up with Cleveland to draft second overall, eight days before the draft.

"I still didn't know until Jared (Goff) got the phone call," Wentz said, Goff going as expected to the Rams, first overall, Wentz sitting with him in the green room.

The Rams took the full 10 minutes to make their pick, for some reason. The Eagles did not. Michael Irvin and Alex Flanagan had barely sashayed in from the wings for their between-picks warmup bit for the crowd watching live when "The Pick Is In" flashed across the big screen behind them, and they cut their remarks short to welcome Goodell.

"Walking the red carpet, sitting down, didn't have to wait very long," Wentz said about 40 minutes later, to a small group of Philadelphia-area media, clustered in a creaky-floored Roosevelt University hallway. Wentz stood with his back against the school's alumni hall of fame plaque, across from classroom 232. His eyes seemed a very close match to the shade of green on the Eagles cap he wore.

"I'm glad I got to enjoy this with my family. It's been surreal," Wentz said.

He would be led from this confab to a classroom where he was directed toward a chair and some photo sheets he was told to sign, then to the next room, where the midnight-green jersey with the No. 1 on it said "Tide" on the back, for the detergent, instead of Wentz. He was directed to point at the jersey as cameras clicked. Nobody ever told him why he was doing these things; he followed his handlers and grinned. Such are the ways of the almighty NFL money machine.

Before he was whisked from the hallway, Wentz said Eagles executive vice president Howie Roseman placed the call and delivered the news, then he talked to team chairman Jeffrey Lurie, then to coaches.

"I talked to a bunch of guys in the organization, hearing how excited they were, knowing I'm pretty darned excited myself, it just makes it feel that much better and more special. And knowing what they had to do to trade up, and knowing how much they must believe in me, that's pretty exciting," he said.

It's an easy juxtaposition there from Wentz to Sam Bradford, the returning starting quarterback who has asked for a trade but right now seems unlikely to get one. That part about how much the Eagles must believe in Wentz is what has Bradford wanting to leave.

"It's out of my control," Wentz said, when asked about Bradford. "I don't know what's going to become of that. It's not for me to speculate. All I know is, I'm going to work my tail off. I'm going to go and compete, earn the respect of everybody, and the chips will fall where they may."

Wentz reiterated what he has said several times when asked about Philadelphia fans. "That's all I ever hear, is how passionate they are. I love it. They have high expectations, I have high expectations."

What will fans see in their new 6-5, 237-pound, orange-bearded QB, the pride of North Dakota State?

"I think they'll see a winner and they'll see a competitor," said Wentz, who will fly to Philadelphia Friday and be introduced at NovaCare in the late afternoon-early evening. "They'll see a kid who loves the game. I'm going to put my best foot forward every day. I'm going to be the first one in and the last one out, and hopefully win a lot of games."

Back at NovaCare Thursday night, Roseman and Eagles coach Doug Pederson were talking about how high they'd been on Wentz throughout the process. When they traveled to Fargo, N.D., in March, with Lurie in tow, they held the 13th overall pick and had little chance of getting him. Wentz listened to a lot of fluff from a lot of teams, but he said Thursday he felt he bonded with Pederson. By the time they flew him out to Philadelphia for more talk recently, he knew the Eagles were serious, even if he couldn't see their path forward.

"I had a feeling something was going to happen at the top, I just didn't know how it would all work out," he said, before repeating, "It's really exciting to know that they believe in me that much, to trade up for me."

"I think I hit it off with the Eagles' staff and ownership . . . The little bit I learned about the offense, it's very similar to what we did at North Dakota State," he said. "A lot of quarterback minds (on the staff). I think that'll be huge for me, to learn and develop under those guys, and hopefully see my career develop at a fast pace.

"Me and coach Pederson, I think we hit it off right away. He's an awesome guy, an awesome coach, and I'm excited to work with him."

Asked if he could start this year, if needed, Wentz said: "We'll see. I think I have a lot of ability, and I think I'll be able to, but it's not for me to decide. It'll be for the coaches. It's out of my control. I'm just going to go in there and learn as quick as I can, hopefully put my best foot forward from an early stage, see what happens."

Wentz was asked about McNabb and expectations, about how this is the highest pick the Eagles have made since they grabbed their all-time leading passer in 1999.

"That's the goal. You want to come in and hopefully call Philadelphia my home for a long time," Wentz said. "Hopefully win a lot of games, win Super Bowls."

@LesBowen

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