Carson Wentz says he's relishing his fresh start with the Indianapolis Colts.
The former Eagles quarterback has made no secret about how things turned sour for him in Philadelphia, where he became the focal point of a disappointing 2020 season that ended with Wentz having lost his starting job and head coach Doug Pederson being dismissed.
Given a chance to turn the page in Indianapolis, Wentz now says he feels like he's in a "special place."
“I really feel like I have a new passion for the game” Wentz told ValleyNewsLive.com this week. “I’ve been high, I’ve been injured, I’ve been, now, benched, I’ve been traded, I’ve kinda seen a lot in five years, so whatever the game throws at me I’m ready.”
The remarks came while Wentz was in Fargo, North Dakota for an event for his charity, the AO1 Foundation, and were later picked up by the Indianapolis Star.
Wentz said he's pumped to take over as Colts quarterback, a role previously held by Peyton Manning and, later, Andrew Luck, whose void the Colts are hoping Wentz can fill.
“I’m excited, I’m excited for it,” Wentz said. “Just being in the organization and being in the facility, it’s definitely a special place. It’s really got a family vibe and a family element … just to know there are some guys before me who had done incredible jobs and really are legends in that city is exciting.
"It feels like us. Not just for football, but for family as well."
Looking back at what went wrong in Philadelphia, the North Dakota State product said he thought the pandemic was hard for "everybody," but especially for the Eagles, who had a lot of rookies and new faces on last year's roster.
“COVID, for everybody, changed a lot of things,” Wentz said. “I think it was really hard with COVID when we had a lot of new rookies and new faces in Philadelphia because we had so many rules. We couldn’t even just sit in the cafeteria and get to know each other. Football last year was a lot less personal, and some of those personal connections and relationships were really missing."
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