Matthews on Wentz: ‘He’ll Start Ballin’ and It’ll All be Forgotten’

PHILADELPHIA (973espn.com) - Jordan Matthews became fast friends with Carson Wentz when the quarterback arrived in Philadelphia so it's no surprise that the veteran receiver, who is set to become a free agent in March, was a little perplexed by the much-talked-about PhillyVoice.com piece which quoted a number anonymous teammates calling Wentz "selfish, "egotistical" and "uncompromising."

Speaking on SiriusXM's NFL Radio, Matthews gave his take on the controversy.

"I don’t think [the quotes] were very well-thought-out or measured, only because when you’re playing through injury, when you’re coming back off of a season where you don’t get to play in the playoffs and all this stuff, if there’s any slip in character for somebody of Carson’s caliber, I think there should be some grace applied," Matthews explained. "I think that should be the type of posture everybody should bring to somebody like that because this dude is the face of a franchise."

According to Matthews', not enough is made of what Wentz went through from a physical standpoint to get back in nine months from ACL and LCL surgery, along with the pain the QB was playing with due to what was ultimately described as a stress fracture in his back which evolved over time.

“You think of the pressure that’s on [Wentz's] shoulders every single day and to miss out on being that leader and being in that position and come back and for right back into it and play through pain, I think there should always be some grace applied," Matthews said.

Wentz himself admitted he probably “wasn’t the greatest teammate at times because I was emotionally kind of all over the place,” in an interview during Super Bowl week.

Matthews, though, insisted that the teammates who did take aim at Wentz should have understood the context of what his friend was going through and believes any issues were overblown.

“It was a stretch,” Matthews said of the PhillyVoice article. “Even when you read the article, it feels like a scary story you’d read to your kid. It seemed like such a stretch. And so, I think the second Carson goes out there, they’ll play the Rocky theme music, he’ll start ballin’ and it’ll all be forgotten.”

-John McMullen covers the Eagles and the NFL for 973espn.com. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen