Eagles' Wentz limited to 'mental reps' for now

This was supposed to be Carson Wentz's learning time.

With the rookie quarterback scheduled to spend September through December running the scout team in practice and watching the regular season games from the sideline in street clothes, training camp and the preseason were going to be his best opportunity to get valuable practice reps and playing time.

But then he suffered a hairline fracture of a rib Thursday night when he got drilled by a Tampa Bay Bucs defender on a blitz, and class was cancelled.

The fracture is a 2-to-4-week injury, which means Wentz might – or might not -- make it back for the Eagles' final preseason game.

But offensive coordinator Frank Reich said Monday that even though Wentz may miss the rest of the preseason, it doesn't mean he can't keep growing as a quarterback during that time.

"It's still easy for him to grow,'' Reich said. "He just needs to concentrate and get the mental reps. We're all big believers in that.

"You can still get the mental reps. You can still get a lot of film study. You can still interact with the players. Interact with the receivers. Tell them what you expect as a quarterback.

"We certainly expect no slowing down of the [growth] process as far as him growing mentally. Obviously you can't get the physical reps when you're hurt. But I expect to see continued growth from Carson.''

Wentz is a quarterback with a linebacker body and mentality. He missed most of his final season at North Dakota State with a broken wrist. Earlier in the Bucs game, he got flipped by a defensive back trying to run for a first down on a fourth-and-seven play.

"I thought he protected himself well,'' Reich said. "He had the first slide of his career [on an earlier run]. The flip that he did on the fourth-and-seven, the guy caught him by surprise. You don't want to see that. You cringe when that happens.

"But I think Carson gets it. I think he gets it. I think he'll slide when he needs to slide. The injury came on a play where that could've happened to anybody.

"It happened on a play where they ran a blitz that we couldn't pick up. We just needed to make a slight adjustment to what we did there as far as getting the ball out quicker. But other than that, I think he gets it. I think he understands that it's his responsibility to get down and slide when he can.

"But he's an aggressive athlete. So there's going to be a time or two where he's going to take a shot. We just have to keep those to a minimum. And he needs to keep them to a minimum. But I think he has a pretty good handle on that.''