Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Can the Colts fix Carson Wentz?

Episode Date: February 23, 2021

On today's episode, Mark Schofield of Touchdown Wire (USA Today) joins Evan for an in-depth podcast on Carson Wentz. Mark has watched every throw from Wentz throughout his college and NFL career. What has stood out most, and can the Indianapolis Colts' new QB be fixed?Every angle you can think of on Carson Wentz is covered in this episode. From confidence, mechanics, upside, fit in Indy, the Frank Reich connection, plus so much more, Mark and Evan dive into all of it.You won't want to miss this one, Colts fans. Mark gives a unique insight on Wentz you won't find anywhere else. This is a must-listen to find out more on possibly the long-term quarterback answer for the Colts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello everybody, welcome back to your latest episode of Locked On Colts, part of the Locked on Podcast Network. Today, as always, I'm your host, Evan Sattery, joined by a very special guest today's show, Mark Schofield, a lead writer over at Touchdown Wire of USA Today, to talk really in-depth about Carson Wentz and the trade the Colts have made,

how the Colts found their franchise quarterback, what type of environment Wentz is going to be in, really a lot of good stuff that Mark wrote about over on Touchdown Wire. It's titled How Frank Wright Can Fix Carson Wentz is going to be in. Really a lot of good stuff that Mark wrote about over on Touchdown Wire. It's titled How Frank Wright Can Fix Carson Wentz. I will add the link here in the podcast. I think a lot of Colts fans should go read this article. It's really, really insightful stuff. Mark, how are you doing today, man?

I'm doing well. Thank you so much for having me on. I appreciate the invite. Yeah, no problem at all. Really enjoyed your piece. I really enjoyed your work for a while, Mark. You really dive in deep to quarterbacks and just the overall scouting side of it as far as being able to see other things that a lot of people can't

as far as quarterbacking goes. Let's talk about your story for a moment with Carson Wentz. And the first part that really stood out to me was just about the difference we've seen from Carson Wentz from 2017 to 2020. And this is something I brought up on the show a lot, even before the trade for Carson Wentz, and the rumors were really smoking around Wentz, where it just seems like Wentz is not as confident as he was three or

four years ago. Whether it be the environment, the lack of depth around him, just the lack of trust with the coaching staff in the front office. It just seemed like Carson Wentz mentally wasn't right, especially in 2020. And that was how you load up your story in this one, where it just seems like the confidence and the swagger we saw from Carson Wentz early on in his career just vanished all of a sudden. It seems like to me, if Frank Wright can fix that aspect of Carson Wentz, Mark, the Colts could be in for a boom here with possibly their franchise quarterback for the next eight to ten years. I think that's exactly right.

I think if you're a Colts fan, you're hoping that Frank Wright can sort of tap into what Carson Wentz was back. And it doesn't even have to be the 2017 season where before you had heard, it looked like he was an MVP. I mean, you know, some of the plays that he made, some of the games that he had down the stretch, even in 2019 when that was somewhat of a depleted Philadelphia roster. And he put that team on his back and threw them into the playoffs,

carried them into the post season. If you, if you get that guy back, you're talking about a guy that can be your franchise quarterback. But I do think the way I started the piece about what he was in 2017, that was such a confident, decisive quarterback, throw it with anticipation, trust in the players around him, making throws and challenging throwing windows that as you go on through his time in Philadelphia and then particularly into the 2020 season, he just wouldn't make those throws. He wouldn't even try them.

He wouldn't even look at them. Some people have said that Carson sort of regressed in 2020. I'd say it was more of a collapse. He collapsed back to what he was his final year at NDSU. And, you know, they need to fix that. And I think confidence is the critical component to it, getting him back to where he feels confident in his own game, confident in the players around him and the talent around him,

and confident in the offense that he's running. And I think the reunion with Frank Reich is going to be a big part of it. And it's why I'm, you know, cautiously optimistic here about what Wentz can be in 2021 and beyond in Indianapolis. Yeah when you see the overall connections with the Colts coaching staff to Carson Wentz of course Frank Reich is former offensive coordinator was a part of the scouting process with Carson Wentz when he was at North Dakota State. Press Taylor of course is his quarterback coach for the last couple years. Mike Groh of course

also was a part of that staff in 2017 and beyond with the Eagles before he came to the Colts last year as a wide receivers coach. And then you throw in the talent around him on offense. You have Jonathan Taylor as your running back. I think he's the best running back he's ever played with at this point in his career. You have the offensive line.

Even with Andy Costanza retiring after 10 years, he still had easily the best offensive lines played around, in my opinion, with Quentin Nelson leading that group up front. You have young playmakers as well. Maybe they make a splash for ANC at wide receiver, maybe like an Allen Robinson type, or they re-sign T.Y. Hilton. It seems like the ingredients are in place, so to say, Mark, to really build that confidence swagger back up. I think so. And I think a big part of that, Evan, is it starts with the coaching. You look at that 2017 season, when you had from Doug Peterson to Frank Wright to John DiFilippo, that triumvirate of coaching around him,

three men that have coached quarterbacks, that have played the position, that know the game from an offensive perspective. That was when he was at his best. I think they have that similar setup now with Frank Wright, with Press Taylor, and the ability to sort of surround him with people that are going to put him where he needs to be from a mental perspective, but also give him the coaching that he needs. A lot of people have written about Carson Wentz in the past, you know, week or so about how he needs to be coached hard at times. And Frank Reich was one of the people that in his

past has been able to do that, that has been able to get through to him. Because in the wake of this sort of divorce with Philadelphia, a lot of people have wondered, is Carson Wentz coachable? That was a question that I've been asked so many times over the past week when I've done shows like this. And I always come back to a story from North Dakota State, which has always stuck with me about Wentz, which was after his junior year, his offensive coordinator at NDSU would always give the quarterbacks at North Dakota State

an assignment when the season was over to go back to watch their games, to watch their film and come up with a list of a couple of plays each game, you know, where they should have done something differently, whether it was a check they could have made or a read they could have made or a throw they could have put in a different spot. And he gave it to Wentz the Friday after their season ended again they just won a national championship and he expected it to get it back from Carson maybe in a week or two or maybe even a little longer after all it's the offseason and guys are going to go do their thing he got it back Monday morning like he turned it around immediately because Wentz wanted to get

better he wanted to get better for his senior year. This is a guy that wants to be coached. You have to do it the right way. You do have to sort of rebuild his confidence, but I think when you look at the coaching staff that's in place, and then you look at the roster and the offensive side of the ball, you mentioned the running back. I don't think he's had a running back, the kind of skills that Jonathan Taylor has. You look at some of the receivers that are already in place.

And like you said, if they add somebody via free agency, like an Allen Robinson, you bring T.Y. Hilton back, obviously Michael Pittman, maybe even add somebody in the draft. You're going to have a lot of talent to run. And then that offensive line is a very good offensive line. If he's protected, he's always usually extremely calm in the pocket when he's protected, but he has the ability to extend plays with his legs. It could be almost an ideal situation for him from a roster standpoint,

from a coaching standpoint, from a comfort standpoint. And I think that's why the Indianapolis Colts felt like this was a move they could make with confidence because of what they can put around him. Let's talk a little bit in depth, Mark, about the 2020 season and the latter part of your story, whenever just really the floor falling out for him as far as going back to reverting to his NDSU days in his junior year. And like you mentioned, it really just was a polar opposite of what we saw from Wentz as far as confidence goes and just mechanics wise. What stood out most to you in 2020 and what do you believe is fixable and what's maybe not fixable? You know, I think there are two things, Evan, that really sort of stand out. most to you in 2020 and what do you believe is fixable and what's maybe not fixable you know I

think there are two things Evan that really sort of stand out one there is the mechanical standpoint now Wentz mechanically going back to his days at North Dakota State has never been a perfect coaching tape type of quarterback you know if I were going to be sitting down with some high school kids and showing them what they should do when they're throwing the football. Wentz isn't on the list of guys whose tape I put up there. I mean, I'd be putting guys like Tom Brady, Brad Kaya. Those are clean mechanical quarterbacks. Wentz has always been a bit loose in the upper body. But what really sort of stood out this year was the lower body mechanics.

You saw his base really start to widen at times. You saw him start to lock up that front leg. And as a tall quarterback, that sometimes happens, but that could sort of cause sort of a break in the throwing chain between the upper and the lower bodies. It almost works like slamming the brakes on a car. You know, if you think about it, if you're listening to the show, you know, try to put yourself through a throwing motion,

but lock that front leg up and feel what it does to you. You almost feel your body start to break between the upper and the lower body at the hips. It stops your forward momentum. So that can cause a dip in velocity. That can cause poor ball placement. So the lower body, that was one issue. And then his front foot.

His front foot, he would often not point it towards the target. He would step well off the target line so his lower body mechanics were a mess this season i think that is something he's going to have to work on and then there's the mental side of it it's the you know the play that i highlighted um from that you know monday night game against seattle where they're just running four verticals against a single high coverage and lewis riddick and brian greasy are up in the booth, like losing their minds because he misses the inside seam route to the right,

which is wide open, which is a day one read for most high school quarterbacks. And he just didn't see it, didn't throw it, saw that it was open. But that reminded me of a play from the previous week against the Browns where he had something similar and didn't see it. And that brought me right back to his tape at NDSU, what he would miss on those reads. And so he needs to be reminded again of the throws that he's able to make. He's an extremely talented quarterback, one of the few people on the planet that can do this at the NFL level. He's lost that, whether it was the injury history, whether it was

drafting Jalen Hurts, whether it was missing out on an opportunity to be on the field and lead your team to a Super Bowl win because of his injury. Maybe it was just a combination of all that, but he lost his confidence. And, you know, I know people will push back on that and say, look, if you're going to fall apart when your team drafts a backup quarterback, maybe this isn't for you. That's why I included in that piece snippets from Montana, snippets from Bill Walsh and others about how quarterbacks sometimes need that confidence, that belief behind them. You have to coach the position a little bit differently. Once lost that confidence, and I think that's the main job for Frank Reich is to get that back.

So the mechanics are an issue. Missing reads and stuff like that because of that lack of confidence are an issue. I do think that those can be fixed. I think from the mechanical standpoint, that work has to be in process now. You look at Josh Allen and what he was able to do this season, a lot of it was based on the work he did in the offseason, building himself up mechanically,

working on the finer points of throwing the football. Once has to be, I hope, he's with a private quarterback coach right now, whether it's a Quincy Avery, a Jordan Palmer, a Tony Raciopi, the QB country guys. There's so many great private quarterback coaches out there. I hope Wentz is with one, working on

those mechanics and getting those ready because there's no time midseason to fix that stuff. You have to fix that stuff now. So those are the issues. I think they can be fixed, but now part of it is on once himself to do it. BetOnline is the fastest and easiest way to bet on all your sports action. Football might be over, but NBA, college basketball, and NHL are in full swing. BetOnline even covers awards, TV shows, reality TV, real-time data odds, and props on almost anything you can imagine.

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with a new series called Locked On Presents More Than a Game. This week, Candace Cooper of Locked On Tar Heels and Ross Jackson of Locked On Saints discuss holding space in the balance of discussing blackness in sports. Subscribe to the Locked On Presents podcast via the Radio.com app or every year podcast. From the physical standpoint, like you mentioned there, Mark, I actually saw a quote, I think it was from Greg Cosell a couple days ago

from a story in 2018 mentioning they heard from a GM who said Patrick Mahomes and Carson Wentz are the two most talented quarterbacks in the NFL of course a lot has changed since 2018 Wentz came off that MVP type season 2017 and we saw of course the the bottom fallout in 2020 but just from a physical talent standpoint the quarterback position Mark where does Carson Wentz rank for you I mean he has the arm he has the acumen as far as the ability to change the line of scrimmage when he's on he has the accuracy. I mean, he has the arm. He has the acumen as far as the ability to change stuff in the line of scrimmage. When he's on, he has the accuracy too. I mean, where do you physically rank Carson Wentz

as far as his pure quarterback talent goes? I mean, purely from a talent perspective, I mean, he's an upper tier, upper echelon elite quarterback. I mean, he has that ability. You know, I remember the first time I saw him in person at the Senior Bowl before he was drafted, and you could just tell. I mean, from the second he walked into Ladd Peoples,

you just saw him playing catch to warm up. The ball just comes out of his hands differently. And he was down there, obviously, with guys that got drafted a little bit later, like Dak Prescott was down there, obviously, Cody Kessler, guys that maybe didn't have the arm talent that Carson Wentz has, but the ball just exploded out of his hands. You know, I think when you see him from an athletic profile, from the ability to extend plays, the willingness to fight

when other quarterbacks have probably given up on the down, you know, that's one of the things that makes Carson Wentz potentially special. You look at some of the ridiculous throws that he's made over his career when other quarterbacks would have thrown the ball away or taken a sack. You know, not too many quarterbacks have the ability to do that, but he does. But that's part of the sort of duality of Wentz and that double-edged sword to his play where that might have led to some injuries.

That might have led to some of the problems that have developed over time you know when you fight so long so deep into the down to extend the play to keep an opportunity downfield you expose yourself to hits like that that takes its toll over time um and you start talking about that i'm sure colts fans have a different quarterback that comes to mind somebody that recently wore the blue and white wearing the number 12 with Andrew Luck. But I do think there are some similarities between those two players with the way they play at the position.

But I do think that Wentz is an extremely talented quarterback. And whether he and Mahomes are the top two from talent, whether it's a Watson in there, however you want to stack those guys, from a talent perspective, I think Wentz is up there. It's been a production and execution perspective from the past couple of seasons, but I think the potential is there for him to get back to that level.

How bad did you think Carson Wentz needed to get out of Philadelphia, Mark? Just from the curve in 2020 and just from the front office, the locker room standpoint, it just seems like this is exactly what he needed. He landed possibly in the perfect spot with Frank Reich in this locker room culture the Colts having a place. Yeah, I think he absolutely needed to get out. And that's why I think you heard, you know, however it came about, whether, you know, you saw stories today on Monday, that he didn't specifically demand a trade or ask for a trade or request a trade.

But, you know, his agent reached out to Philadelphia and said, you know, it'd probably be best for everybody if he got traded. That tells you where this relationship was going. And I do think that the situation with how the Super Bowl came about, with Nick Foles coming in and sort of becoming this folk hero, and then they draft Jalen Hurts. I do think from a sort of confidence and beliefs in himself standpoint that Hurts wins. And so I think that this was the best sort of situation for both parties.

Now it gives a little clarity to the Eagles from their quarterback perspective. Whether they ride with Hurts or draft somebody else, they can now go in that direction. And for Wentz, I think the Indianapolis environment from both a coaching standpoint and I think a media standpoint, to be honest, is going to be beneficial for him. You know, I think the Philadelphia media market has a sort of knack for chewing guys up and spitting them out a bit.

And as somebody from Boston, I've seen that in Boston for decades. And so I think the Indianapolis environment will be better for Wentz than Philadelphia was. Yeah, there's really a lot of interesting aspects to this, Mark, as far as from the Colts standpoint goes. And if you're Chris Bowder, if you're Frank Reich, of course, from all we've heard, Frank Reich really wanted to take the dice roll on Carson Wentz.

And trading a third-round pick in this year's draft, plus a conditional second-round pick that could turn to a first-round pick if all goes well. More likely than not, it's going to be a 2022 first-round pick to get up there, Mark. But if it does go well for the Colts, trading a first-round pick and a third-round pick for a guy that could be your quarterback for the next eight to ten years

is a worthy gamble to make, right? Oh, absolutely. Absolutely, Evan. When you have a quarterback who retires, and Phil, for instance, but you have a playoff-ready roster, you need to take a swing at the quarterback position. Obviously, you probably don't feel that Jacob Eason is ready. You look at this quarterback class, this rookie class, and you're not going to be in position,

absent a wild trade to the top of the draft board to draft one of the guys that will be ready to play for you um and if you had if you had to do that you're going to have to give up a lot more than a third and a conditional second that could become first you look at all the teams that need to draft a quarterback and that are expected to draft one of the top say 15 of the first round to get up in front of the bulk of those teams to draft QB three or QB two or whatever it is, you're gonna have to pay a lot more. So to take a swing at a relatively inexpensive trade, you know, the third and a potential first for Carson Wentz, if he gets to that 2019 level, it's a win. If he gets to that 2017 level, it's not just a win.

It's a massive home run. Because like you said, that you have your MVP caliber starting quarterback for the next eight to 10 years without giving up a ton to go get them. You know, I think that's a massive home run. And if it doesn't pan out, let's say absolute worst case scenario, Carson Wentz of 2020 is who he just is now. A third and a second is not a ton to give up to go get him.

But I think Indianapolis, with where they're at right now and all the other circumstances about quarterbacks and needs for other teams, I think this was almost a no-brainer to go trade for Carson Wentz and pay what they pay. The Frank Ray connection really has loomed over this Carson Wentz trade, even before it happened. We've heard Daryl Johnston on the Fox broadcast during a game this year say that Wentz and Reich had a connection off the field as far as faith goes. They are very close even now. I heard Frank Reich on a podcast with Peter King last month

mentioning he still talks to Carson Wentz. He's still very close with him. And a month later, they trade for him. It seems like like to me from a coach to player standpoint the guy who really believed in you 100 from the very beginning before he was drafted in 2016 to go out and get him and coach him from day one and he'd be like you're my guy and then bring him back five years later to kind of stay in from the abyss he was falling into I feel like from a player to coach standpoint from Reich and Wentz it feels almost like a perfect marriage from that standpoint. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, if you're Carson Wentz, you now feel again that your head coach wants you there and believes in you and went to bat for you. And that might be all it takes for Wentz to fix the confidence aspect, which is what I dedicated the bulk of

that piece to. To have Frank Reich basically just go out and say look i have a playoff team i just need the guy and i believe in you and you're the guy um that's huge from a confidence boosting standpoint that's massively beneficial for a quarterback because you know when i talked about whence not making some reads and not making some throws and things like that what really it really looked to me like this was a guy that was so worried about losing his job. He wasn't doing the things he needed to do to keep his job, which is to make some of those throws. You can't play quarterback scared.

You can't play it timid. And if you're looking over your shoulder worried that if you make a mistake, the rookie they drafted in the second round is going to come onto the field to take your spot. You're not going to do the things you need to do to keep the job to begin with. And it's going to hurt your performance. And that's what I think happened to Wentz at the end. And so now when he is a head coach that believes in him, that went out to get him, that actively said, this is the guy we want, that's a huge boost to his confidence.

And I think it's going to eliminate that fear of looking over his shoulder on every missed throw or every missed read and every moment where he thought man if i take that chance if i take that risk and it goes bad my butt's on the bench i can't do this and then i'm going to check it down or whatever that's eliminated i think the relationship is critical to that and if it's gone on day one it's so it's that much closer to you guys having to give up a first rounder because you got your guy as a result. Colts fans, rockauto.com is the place to go if you want to save money on your next car purchase.

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Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Another thing positive to this, like Carson Wentz just restarting and Indy goes, is that he's not going to be putting the pressure cooker, so to say. He doesn't have to come in and have the pressure of, you have to be a top five, top three quarterback in the NFL. Just be a top 15, top 16 type quarterback in year one. And this team is built very well from top to bottom where they have a lot of depth. They have the running game. They have the young playmakers, the top five, top 10 defense where he doesn't have to win the games

by himself, Mark. They also have the offensive line that's going to protect them, even though he had 50 sacks last year in 12 and a half games. I think it just goes to show you, Mark, that maybe the Colts, I mean, it's fair to say that this Colts team is very well positioned to make a run next year, and Carson Wentz doesn't have to be that 2017 version. If he is, that's a huge, huge bonus. But he doesn't have to have that pressure on him, so to say, to come in and be the missile. Exactly.

That's also another thing that's going to sort of help him from a mental perspective because there's not the need that you have to come in and put this team on your back right away. This is look this was a playoff team last year like you're in a pretty good setting we've got a team around you you know we've got talent around you we've got a defense that will pick you up if you make a mistake we've got players on both sides of the ball just go out there and you not even like don't worry about making mistakes just go out there and you not even like, don't worry about making mistakes. Just go out there and play football again. You know, remember what made you want to play this sport and begin with and tap into

that. We don't need you to be a hero. The hero ball, that stuff is nice, but we don't need it. Throw it away on third down on third and long. If you have to, it was okay.

Like our defense will pick you up. I think stepping into that kind of environment with the depth and the talent around him with the coaching staff in place is just going to be enormously beneficial for him in 2021. Mark what do you think the ceiling is for the 2021 Colts next year if Carson Wentz can fix some of the things I mean he doesn't have to fix everything right off the bat but if Carson Wentz can be a top above average quarterback, maybe in that 10 to 12 range, if he's above that, it's a huge bonus in my opinion in 2021.

We're in this cold team in ranks in the AFC. If Frank Ray can fix Carson Wentz, I mean, how big is the ceiling for this cold team in 2021 and beyond? I mean, you know, obviously it's tough because you look around. You've got obviously Kansas City and Buffalo looks to be good again. And, you know, Baltimore and Cleveland are still talented teams. But if Wentz gets to that top 12, top 10 type of quarterback again, this is a team that should contend for the AFC.

It really should. You know, because of the talent that he has, the things that he can do for your offense, you know, the dynamic talent that he brings to the table, the traits that he brings to the table, combined with what's already in place. I mean, this is a team that made it to the playoffs. But Phillip Rivers at times was his last year in the NFL for a reason. I think there were plays that were perhaps left on the field

because of the quarterback play that hopefully if Wentz is that top 12 type of guy, he's going to hit on. You start hitting on those, you're talking about a team that I think can make a deep run. So, you know, if he gets to where he was, you know, 2019, let alone 2017, I think the Colts could have a really good year. Closing the show, Mark, let's hit on that comparison you just brought up there.

Bring up Phillip Rivers. It's a really good segue into my last question here. What are the differences are going to be between 2020 Phillip Rivers and 2021 Carson Wentz? Of course, Wentz is a decade younger than Phillip Rivers. He's going to be 28 this year, 29 December. Phillip Rivers just turned 29 in December of last year, or excuse me, 39 in December of last year. It seems like going from a statue and mobile quarterback who had a very high IQ at the line of scrimmage, you bounce out with a guy who maybe is less of that at the line of scrimmage, but also a freak athlete at the correct position who can do a lot of things

as far as RPOs, rollouts, play-action concepts goes. It kind of opens up the offense for the Colts a little bit more in 2021 and beyond. Yeah, I think, you know, the first thing that I do think they'll be able to tap into is that ability to play 11-on on 11 again in the run game. I think the more that offenses have that ability to have the quarterback, just even if you're not designing runs for him, the fact that he's a threat, those zone redesigns, those, you know, GT counter designs and things like that,

where the defense has to account for the quarterback, you know, now you're not playing a 10-on-11 game. You're playing an 11-on-11 game that evens the playing field, that makes things easier for you from a run game perspective. Also think about, I always try to think about having third and six, right? What's the defense going to do when you're on the field and it's third and six? Do they have to account for the quarterback? Do they have to think about putting a spy on the quarterback? Obviously no defense, no defensive coordinator is on a 36 situation

putting a spy on Phillip Rivers. You're not going to do that. You might think about doing it against Carson Wentz. You might also think about, look, maybe we're not going to spy him, but we're going to play more zone coverage because if we play man and turn our backs to him, he can tuck it and go, and then 36 becomes first and 10, and we can't get off the field. We can't stop a drive.

And so what you have the ability now as an offense, because of Carson Wentz and his athleticism to dictate what you can and can't do defensively, to dictate what you can and can't do against the run, what you can and can't do against the pass, what gives you more things to think about, that's going to make the offense much tougher to defend. So that's why I look at quarterbacks generally and athleticism matters in today's NFL. Wentz is going to make the offense much tougher to defend. So that's why I look at quarterbacks generally, and athleticism matters in today's NFL.

Wentz is going to bring that. And if nothing else changes, but he brings that athleticism, that's going to help lead to some finishing drives with touchdowns, finishing wins, getting wins, and it's going to make this a better team no matter what. And so I think that athleticism is going to be a big boost for this offense going forward. Mark, I was just thinking while you were talking there,

just going over your article again and just thinking about all we've talked about so far today. Let's say we're in Las Vegas and we're at the high stakes table and we're putting big bets down, so to say, on Carson Wentz and his future with the Colts. You bet on him becoming the franchise quarterback of the Colts. Do you think it's going to be a not-so-good run for the Colts? If you had to be in Vegas right now and place You bet on him becoming the franchise quarterback of the Colts. You think it's going to be a not so good run for the Colts. If you had to be in Vegas right now and place some place a bet on this,

being the Wentz errors can go well in it. You're talking to somebody, Evan, that has a Carson Wentz signed trading card from his NDSU days in my office. I've got a Wentz Eagles jersey upstairs. I've been studying this guy, you know, since his junior year at NDSU. I'm as big a Wentz believer as you can find. And so, yeah, I'd go all in on this. I think this is the ideal situation for him. I think this is the ideal setting for him. I'm still a believer in what Carson Wentz can do as a quarterback. I know last year looked awful. I watched every throw. I watched all the good

ones and the bad ones. There weren't too many good ones to find. But I think getting him into Indianapolis, reuniting him with Frank Wright, putting the talent around him, putting the coaching structure around him, the offensive scheme around him, I think this is as ideal as it can get. And if it doesn't work, then I don't know where it could work for him at this point because this is as good as it's going to get. So I think, yeah, if we were in Vegas right now, Evan, and I had to put all my chips in on one better than the other,

I'm going all in on Carson Wentz having a great run here in Indianapolis. Mark, this is amazing stuff, diving really in-depth on Carson Wentz, his whole career really in Philadelphia, how it's going to go in Indy. Really great stuff from you, Mark. If you want to go follow him on Twitter, Colts fans, go ahead and do so right now at Mark Schofield on Twitter. Go read his work over at the Touchdown Wire. He does also some great guest spots around the NFL blogosphere

in podcasts and writing. Mark, really appreciate the time, man. This is a really, really fun episode. Thanks so much, Evan. Really appreciate you having me on. Appreciate the invite.