The Philadelphia Eagles are still awaiting the return of quarterback Carson Wentz onto the field as he continues to work his way back from his serious knee injury. But when Wentz does return, Eagles receivers better get their hands ready.
According to Tim McManus of ESPN.com, Wentz is actually throwing harder and more accurately now than he did prior to his knee injury. This is based on the Eagles’ player tracking technology, which was one of the sports science innovations installed during former coach Chip Kelly’s regime in 2014.
“Those are things we track actually with the footballs and things that we have,” Eagles coach Doug Pederson said. “We can monitor that stuff. Velocity has been up, accuracy has been up. Those are the things he’s been able to work on over the course of the year.
“He got better last year, obviously, in games. To me it’s all about eye placement, decision making, accuracy, timing. It’s all about the eyes and where you throw it and how you see it. That’s one thing he’s continued to get better at and work on. I do feel like now, because of the injury, he’s focusing a little more on lower body strength. It’s really correlated to velocity and overall speed of the throw.”
Eagles tight end Zach Ertz remarked a couple months ago that Wentz was throwing with as much, if not more zip. As it turns out, he wasn’t wrong, and he has the science to back him up.
Given the importance of the lower body in providing the power on throws, the fact that Wentz is throwing harder is obviously a promising sign that his knee is in good shape.
Of course, Wentz still faces a race against time to get ready for Week 1. But when he does return, he should be ready to start slinging fastballs to his teammates right away.
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