The debut of Philadelphia Eagles rookie quarterback, Carson Wentz, took the league by storm. Calling Wentz’s first start impressive would be an understatement considering the fact he missed majority of the preseason and barely practiced with the team’s starting offense.
The Eagles face the Chicago Bears on Monday night and the Bears well known defensive coordinator is a fan of the young quarterback.
“He’s pretty damn impressive,” Vic Fangio said during his press conference on Thursday. “It looks like Philadelphia is going to be very well rewarded for the risk they took on drafting him.”
The risk in drafting Wentz was mostly his lack of competiton he faced in the FCS. Many questioned the quarterback due to the level of competition he played, but he silenced most of his critics during his Senior Bowl performance versus some of the top draft talent in the nation.
The Eagles invested a lot into Wentz. The team made two trades to move up from the No. 13 pick all the way to No. 2. Wentz wasn’t expected to start for the Eagles during his rookie season, but with the trade of the team’s former quarterback, Sam Bradford, it paved the way to start Wentz day one.
Fangio was so impressed with Wentz the defensive coordinator believes the Eagles investment in the young quarterback was worth it even after one game.
“They gave up a lot of stuff to get this guy because he looks like he’s going to be a long-term hell of a quarterback,” Fangio said. “So they took a chance. They did a hell of a job with it, and I think they are going to be rewarded.”
Fangio was previously the San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator from 2011-2014. Hand picked by former 49ers’ head coach, Jim Harbaugh, Fangio played a huge role in the team’s dominant runs which included three NFC championship game appearances and a Super Bowl berth.
Fangio joined Bears current head coach, John Fox, in 2015. He’s helping the team rebuild their defense, which has shown improvement under his lead even with the inexperience among the team. Fangio is well respected around the league and his praise for Wentz shouldn’t be taken lightly.
