The Kansas City Chiefs made a change at the backup quarterback position this offseason, bringing in former No. 2 overall pick Carson Wentz to stand behind Patrick Mahomes as the Chiefs attempt to make a run at the NFL’s first-ever three-peat. During his media availability on Friday, Wentz discussed his comfort level in KC’s offense and what it’s like acclimating to life as a backup.
First, Wentz was asked to expound on his first handful of practices quarterbacking the Chiefs’ offense, with some similarities to Wentz’s experience with former Chiefs offensive coordinator Doug Pederson’s offense as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, who drafted Wentz in 2016.
“Yeah, it’s been fun,” Wentz said. “Honestly, I love kind of just learning it, and the last couple years I’ve got to learn a lot of different football, a lot of different playbooks, so I’ve loved kind of diving into this and seeing the uniqueness of it. Like you mentioned, like I mentioned a while back, there’s a handful of similarities and carryovers in some terminology, but just kind of the evolution of it and how they’ve done some really cool things here with different pieces, so I’ve enjoyed the process and it’s a cool system.”
Later, Wentz was asked about how he’s handling this phase of his career as the clear No. 2 quarterback behind Mahomes after entering the league as the No. 2 overall pick in 2016 and spending the first seven years of his career as his team’s presumed starter.
“It’s different,” Wentz admitted. “I’m not gonna lie, it’s definitely different, but at the end of the day, I’m still approaching it to be ready. At the end of the day, that’s kind of my mindset, I’m trying to learn as much as I can as quick as I can, formulate a relationship with all of these guys and just keep getting better on the field. At the end of the day, that’s the mindset you have to have in this league. You gotta always be ready to go when called upon, so that’s no different, I guess, in that regard, but you know, you go out to practice and you’re with the twos or you’re going scout team, it is different, but I’m just trying to get better and take it one day at a time.”
Then, Wentz was asked if he’s figured out what his role is within the quarterback room, in terms of his work breaking down film with Mahomes and the other elements of the job.
“We’re still obviously early, we’re only in here a handful of hours every day a couple days a week, and it’s not quite the grind that it will be, so that’ll keep evolving and kind of how I find my place, so to speak, but Pat and I already have a great relationship and that’ll keep growing and I’ll keep finding ways I can help,” Wentz said. “There’s no lie, the dude’s been playing extremely high-level for a while, so I’ll find a way to help in whatever way I can, whether that’s off-the-field, on-the-field, whatever, just here to help and support.”
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