Carson Wentz: The most interesting man in the NFL – Peter Schrager | NFL Live

Carson Wentz: The most interesting man in the NFL – Peter Schrager | NFL Live

from Lamar. Ah, it’s Thursday. Welcome back to the NFL live lounge. The most interesting man in the NFL this week is an old familiar face, Mr. Carson Wentz. Though the Vikings are confident JJ McCarthy is indeed their guy for the long term and will return to lead the team to great heights this season, secondyear quarterback’s injury opens the door for Carson Wentz to once again step into the national spotlight. See, Wentz needs no in reintroduction. But perhaps you’ve been wondering what’s he been up to since his Philadelphia days. He took his last snap as an Eagle in 2020. And in the years since, the former number two overall pick has played for the Colts in 2021, the Commanders in 2022, the Rams in 2023, the Chiefs in 2024, and now it’s with the Vikings in 2025. That is six teams in six years. Wentz was out of football this past spring and summer until a phone call from the Vikings in August led to his latest opportunity. And this one is special. See, growing up as a kid in North Dakota, Wentz was a diehard Vikings fan. Take a look at this, guys. Here he is as a teenager in the stands in a Reebok Percy Harvin Vikings jersey. Wentz enters the lineup Sunday with an opportunity to not only keep the Vikings in the mix in the NFC North, but with an opportunity to add another chapter to his book and maybe a few more years to his NFL career. And what better place to do it? It’s his hometown team, yes, but he also is with former quarterback and noted quarterback whisperer Kevin O’Connell as his head coach and Josh Macau, his former backup in Philadelphia, as his quarterback’s coach. Look, the Vikings brass went out of their way to sign Carson Wentz off the couch this summer with the hope that he would never actually have to take the field, but here he is in week three at the age of 32 with yet another swing of the bat at the plate. And I believe there’s way more at stake than any of his previous stops with this one. See, Wentz doesn’t have to be that player who took the league by storm in that dream 2017 season that was so brutally cut short by injury. He just needs to do enough to win. And if he does that, he may just earn the opportunity to add even more chapters to his book. Hey, it’s all in front of you. The future is yours, old friend. Carson Wentz, go get them. All right, bring that ball over here. You want the ball? Let’s bring the ball. I love it. Another nice piece. The rebated. By the way, in case you haven’t figured out at home, this is a Thursday staple. We now it’s like who’s going to be next in the most interesting man in the lounge. I love it. You got to earn it though. Now, we used to do something on this show. Me, too. We used to do something on this show that was called the Dan Wagon. It did not have the pizzazz, the refinement maybe that that the lounge does, but it it was a staple on the show. And I would say maybe 17 times Carson Wentz appeared on the Danwagon. You were on the WEZ wagon for a long time. Okay. Deservedly so. So how much of a learning curve will there be as you try to contain your excitement that WZE is back in the conversation for Kevin Oonnell and company? No, I honestly very good job. I think it paints a really very interesting picture of the weekend and it’s there’s a lot of truth to it. Uh, I don’t Carson’s been to Peter’s point so many stops that the language of an offense is probably a relatively easy transition for him. I think the biggest thing is for a guy that wasn’t around football a ton in spring and summer and he’s 32 years old and he hasn’t had meaningful snaps in a couple years is can the offensive line play better and he can can he play faster? Mhm. Hey, this this was an offensive line that just wasn’t performing up to the expectation level that we had coming into the season and was also exacerbated by JJ McCarthy just not being accustomed to NFL speed. The speed of the pressure, the speed of the blitzes, the speed of the edge rush, the speed of windows opening and closing, the speed of defensive backs breaking on the ball. So, I do think if Wentz can play a little faster in terms of NFL speed, that offensive line, maybe play a little bit better and be a benefactor of it, there’s chance there’s a chance that good things happen. Yeah, hopefully Christian Darasol is back there in that left tackle position, which would be a big boost for them. At the same time, Carson Wentz, to your point, hasn’t played a ton of football over the last few years. He was in Indie, fizzled out at the end of the season there. He was with the uh Chiefs last season, started the final game, they didn’t put up a single point. So, Are you still on the wagon, I guess, is my is my question. I’m always gonna root for him. I think I’ll always think I’ll always pull for him. The question I’ll say this question, they had an opportunity to bring back Daniel Jones to be the starter. Obviously, they didn’t do that. They had an opportunity to keep Sam Howell, who they traded for. They didn’t do that. They went out of their way to recruit and get Carson Wentz to be the backup for JJ McCarthy. There was no guarantee that McCarthy was going to be there all season. and we lost him in the first preseason game last year and now he’s only he’s out after two games. Carson Wentz might have to carry the load for a little bit here before we get McCarthy back. By the way, that Bengals defense he’ll be going up against they already have four interceptions this season, second most in the NFL and they’ve been a bright spot for that team. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

On NFL Live, Peter Schrager dives into Carson Wentz’s career since his time with the Philadelphia Eagles as he’s set to start at QB for the Minnesota Vikings against the Cincinnati Bengals.

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