Doug Pederson knows quarterbacks. The Philadelphia Eagles head coach was one himself many years ago. He also got a chance to play with or coach some really good ones too including Dan Marino, Brett Favre, Donovan McNabb, Alex Smith and now of course Carson Wentz. The second-year player is in the running for MVP and Pederson’s work to develop him is earning league-wide praise. So getting his opinion on Mitch Trubisky is something worthwhile.
Long story short? He’s impressed. Pederson spoke with Bears media about his teams’ upcoming game with Chicago on Sunday. Naturally the conversation would center around the two young quarterbacks. What sticks out most is how similar the two are. Both were born in the eastern U.S. (Wentz in North Carolina, Trubisky in Ohio). They made their names at schools not known for producing NFL talent. To top it off both became #2 overall draft picks.
They’re also athletes with strong, accurate arms. Even Pederson seemed a bit shocked at how much the two have in common, including their arc of ascent during their rookie years.
Doug Pederson sees Trubisky following the Wentz blueprint easily
Is Trubisky capable of doing what Wentz has done going from first to second year? Pederson doesn’t see any reason that can’t happen. All it takes is for the Bears to basically do what the Eagles did this year.
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“Oh, for sure, for sure,” Pederson said ahead of Sunday’s clash with the Bears, per ESPN’s Jeff Dickerson. “We knew last year with Carson as a rookie that there were going to be growing pains and we were going to take some lumps. And also, listen, we just weren’t very good as a football team last year, too, and didn’t have the surrounding pieces around Carson. You kind of see in Mitch, you see the arm talent, you see the athleticism, the strength. You see good decisions, the accuracy. You see things that flash on tape that you go, ‘OK, that’s exactly the way Carson was a year ago.'”
Philadelphia spent most of the 2017 off-season completely overhauling their arsenal of weapons. Alshon Jeffery, Torrey Smith and Mack Hollins were added to the wide receiving corps. LeGarrette Blount and Jay Ajayi bolstered their running back position. All this without spending a single high draft choice.
If Howie Roseman could pull it off, there’s no reason to think Ryan Pace can’t do the same. It’s all about setting a plan in motion and sticking to it. If things go as expected, Pederson seems to think the Bears could follow the Eagles up the NFC ladder in 2018.
