-
Adam Teicher, ESPN Employees Author
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Carson Wentz had the thought years in the past, when he had no purpose to consider he would ever play for the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs, that it will be a superb factor for him to play for Andy Reid and Matt Nagy.
The thought got here to him from Nick Foles, then a teammate with the Philadelphia Eagles who had performed for Reid in Philadelphia and in Kansas Metropolis and for Nagy with the Chiefs.
“I bear in mind all the nice issues he needed to say about his time right here,” Wentz mentioned Thursday after he signed his one-year contract with the Chiefs to be Patrick Mahomes’ backup at quarterback. “He completely cherished it. He cherished working with these guys, and people issues he mentioned to me again then positively nonetheless rang true in my head as I used to be making this determination.
“I simply bear in mind all of the optimistic issues he mentioned concerning the group, coaches. … These issues have been positively an element and gave me just a little extra peace and luxury in figuring out what I used to be moving into.”
Wentz, 31, is on his fifth group in 5 seasons as he has made the transition from starter with the Eagles as just lately as 2020 and the Indianapolis Colts and Washington Commanders the following two seasons to backup with the Los Angeles Rams final yr. He acknowledged that, earlier than signing final yr with the Rams later within the season, “It wasn’t essentially essentially the most enjoyable sitting out [and] ready for a name each single week.”
He mentioned he has accepted that in the interim he is a backup and mentioned that, after some making an attempt moments final yr, he is grateful for each alternative, even when “I am on the sideline, sporting a hat.”
“Why I am right here as we speak is simply the profitable tradition and seeing it from afar, seeing it across the league for the final couple of years [and admiring] it for years,” Wentz mentioned.
“That was an enormous piece of the puzzle for me. The need to be right here on a profitable group, in a superb tradition, in a superb group with a superb fan base appeared like a superb match.”