March 01, 2017
INDIANAPOLIS – On Tuesday, Tim McManus of ESPN reported that Carson Wentz is helping make the Eagles an attractive destination for free agent wide receivers.
Speaking with league insiders in preparation for the start of free agency (March 9, 4 p.m.), it has become clear that there are several free-agent wide receivers drawn to the idea of playing for the Philadelphia Eagles because of Wentz, the second-year quarterback out of North Dakota State.
On Wednesday, speaking at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, Howie Roseman agreed with that sentiment.
“First, in free agency, money does talk. There’s no question about it," Roseman prefaced. "But, having a guy who people want to play with – and we’ve had that before – having a quarterback that people say, ‘I want to play with that guy; I want to build around that guy,' that’s huge for you from a recruiting perspective. If things are close or even, and people see that there’s kind of this opportunity to build chemistry with a guy over a long period of time, we think that will help us as we recruit players.”
The Eagles haven't had a quarterback they could sell to free agents since Donovan McNabb. It was McNabb, for example, who was a big reason why Terrell Owens wanted to play in Philadelphia instead of a place like Baltimore more than a decade ago.
Despite his pedestrian numbers as a rookie, Wentz clearly showed the type of talent he possesses, and it appears that has not gone unrecognized by players around the league.
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