Carson Wentz on life as Chiefs backup behind Patrick Mahomes: It's different

He started the first 29 games of his NFL career with the franchise that took him with the second pick in the 2016 draft. Talented but somewhat-raw Carson Wentz was beginning to make his mark in the league, even before Patrick Mahomes played his first game with the Kansas City Chiefs. While this duo’s careers have since gone in opposite directions, they are now on the same team.

After five seasons in Philadelphia, Wentz was dealt to the Indianapolis Colts in 2021. He started all 17 games and threw nearly four times as many TD passes (27) as interceptions. Het struggled the final two weeks and the team missed the playoffs. It was off to Washington a year later via another trade and in eight appearances had nearly as many turnovers (10) as TD tosses (11).

Wentz wound up with the Rams this past season. He played in two games and started the regular-season finale vs. the 49ers and helped the club secure a 21-20 victory at San Francisco. This offseason, he signed a one-year deal with the Chiefs.

Carson Wentz is with his fifth NFL franchise in as many years

When asked (via SI.com’s Joshua Brisco) about how things have gone in the early stages of practices with Andy Reid and company, Wentz sounded optimistic.

“Yeah, it’s been fun. Honestly, I love kind of just learning it, and the last couple years I’ve got to learn a lot of different football, a lot of different playbooks, so I’ve loved kind of diving into this and seeing the uniqueness of it. Like you mentioned, like I mentioned a while back, there’s a handful of similarities and carryovers in some terminology, but just kind of the evolution of it and how they’ve done some really cool things here with different pieces, so I’ve enjoyed the process and it’s a cool system.”

It’s also a system with a little familiarity. Former Reid pupil Doug Pederson was Wentz’s first NFL head coach in Philadelphia. It’s the second year in a row the eight-year pro will be playing behind a quarterback with a Super Bowl title (in this case, Mahomes has 3). However, he certainly understands his role.

“It’s different. I’m not gonna lie, it’s definitely different, but at the end of the day, I’m still approaching it to be ready. At the end of the day, that’s kind of my mindset, I’m trying to learn as much as I can as quick as I can, formulate a relationship with all of these guys and just keep getting better on the field. At the end of the day, that’s the mindset you have to have in this league..."

The backup quarterback position is as valuable as ever, so Wentz is right in his approach. 18 weeks and 17 games as the primary focus of every opposing defense -- especially when you're Patrick Freaking Mahomes -- tends to take its tole. If called upon, Wentz will be ready.