National Football League

Will Carson Wentz hold off Taylor Heinicke in Washington?

Updated Aug. 8, 2022 8:04 p.m. ET

It's only up from here for Washington Commanders quarterback Carson Wentz.

Since Wentz's second season in the NFL, it's been an uphill climb. And though some analysts believed he'd found redemption with the Colts, the short-lived marriage proved more destructive than anything for the former North Dakota State signal-caller.

On Sunday, Wentz's new coach Ron Rivera was asked how he feels about Wentz's accuracy so far during training camp.

"It’s a lot better than you give him credit for, just because of the way things happen in practice," Rivera said via ESPN. "There’s a lot of little nuances that we see that we look at that we get to review. Yeah, there’s some inaccuracy. But it’s nothing that we are overly concerned [about].

Still, even though Wentz has yet another fresh start, this time in Washington, "First Things First" cohost Nick Wright is concerned about where he's headed from here.

"There's been some inaccuracy forever with Carson Wentz," Wright said Monday. "He's not going to make it through the season."

Wright circled a specific date on the calendar he believed would mark Wentz's final curtain call as a starter: after a Nov. 15 game against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Wentz has battled injuries during his career, most notably in his second season in 2017 when he suffered a torn ACL in a Week 14 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. The Eagles went on to win the Super Bowl. Wentz also suffered a back injury that cut his 2018 season short, and a concussion knocked him out of a playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks in the 2019 season.

Waiting in the wings of Washington's QB room is a tenured athlete with sufficient experience in Ron Rivera's system: Taylor Heinicke.

The Old Dominion product has certainly had an interesting journey to get to this point in his career. Originally an undrafted free agent, Heinicke was signed by the Minnesota Vikings in 2015. He dealt with a slew of setbacks — including injuries and practice squad placements — before finally landing with Washington after bouncing between several teams.

Heinicke completed 321 of 491 passes for 3,419 yards last season, posting a 20-15 TD-INT ratio. He went 7-8 as the Commanders' starter.

Wentz wasn't much better from a numbers perspective last season, tossing 3,563 yards while completing 62.4% of his passes (322 of 516) and going 9-8 with Indy. The only deviation: TD-INT, where Wentz excelled, recording a 27-7 difference.