Why the Eagles should start Carson Wentz from Day 1

The Philadelphia Eagles find themselves in the same predicament as every team that drafts a quarterback in the first round: Do we throw the guy into the fire and start him from Day 1, or let him ride the bench and learn during his rookie season?

The Eagles are also in a unique position. They drafted Carson Wentz with the belief that he'll be their franchise quarterback for at least the next decade, proven by the blockbuster trade they orchestrated to move to No. 2 overall, which essentially mortgaged their future.

However, by re-signing Sam Bradford and adding an experienced backup in Chase Daniel, they gave themselves a viable option of sitting Wentz for at least a season, a course of action most teams who select a quarterback early don't have the luxury of choosing.

But the Eagles' plan is flawed, and history shows that one way or another, Wentz will finish the 2016 season as the starter. Here's why they should opt to give him the best chance at success by using the offseason to prepare him to start straight away.

Bradford wants out

At the moment, Bradford doesn't want to be a stop-gap starter for the Eagles. He's currently staying away from the team's offseason program in hopes of forcing a trade. Whether he'll get his wish is irrelevant; the Eagles' plan to sit Wentz behind an established starter for a season seems to be in tatters.

If Bradford does stay and holds onto the starting job throughout training camp, do the Eagles really want to go through the 2016 season with a quarterback who has made it clear he doesn't want to be there?

The Eagles are paying Bradford $18 million for next season, they emphasized time and again that they consider him their starter, and while he's never lived up to expectations, he's an experienced veteran who a fanbase can understand starting over a rookie.

Many questioned the Eagles when they re-signed Bradford to such a large deal, but if the initial plan was to move up for Wentz and have him sit for a year, the team needed a quarterback who they could justify starting over him.

As it currently stands, the team would have to start Daniel, and would likely buckle to pressure and start Wentz the moment Daniel and the offense faltered. Instead of bringing in Wentz as a saviour halfway through a lost season, they should give him the chance to learn from a full 16-game campaign.

Wentz turns 24 years old this season

Wentz isn't your usual first-round passer. He entered the draft as a redshirt senior, but only has two seasons as a starter in college on his resume, with the second greatly affected by injury.

It's understandable to want Wentz to sit for a year to develop. He needs to time to transition from the FCS to the speed of the NFL, and his weaknesses will make it a bumpy ride. Wentz has the prototypical size and skills that make teams swoon, but he also struggles with reading defenses, his mental processing is slow, and his feet in the pocket often look like he's stuck in concrete.

However, those things will only improve with NFL game experience. Wentz threw just over 600 passes during his college career (Jared Goff had just under 1,600 attempts for reference) and desperately needs playing time. He also doesn't have the time to waste sitting for a year or two, as he turns 24 years old in December.

Now, that isn't an outlier of a number. Joe Flacco, Eli Manning, and Ryan Tannehill were all of a similar age when they were drafted, but all saw the majority or all of their teams' snaps during their rookie seasons. Those are snaps that Wentz needs to develop.

Sitting a 1st-round QB is unrealistic

In recent years, teams have attempted to sit their rookie first-round quarterbacks at the start of the season, opting to play a safe veteran instead. The Jacksonville Jaguars started Chad Henne in 2014, but relented after two games and put in Blake Bortles. During the same season, the Minnesota Vikings managed to start Matt Cassel for three games before handing the offense over to Teddy Bridgewater.

Aaron Rodgers is the example that's always brought up in the argument for sitting quarterback, but he's the exception, not the rule. Since 2008, when Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco truly set the trend for starting a rookie passer from Day 1, there hasn't been a first-round quarterback that hasn't seen significant action during his rookie campaign.

With Bradford unwilling to shield Wentz from the pressure to start, the Eagles will inevitably, as every other team has done, relent to the pressure and start Wentz - even if they don't want to, or believe he's truly ready.

Sitting a quarterback and letting them grow is a good philosophy, it just isn't realistic in the modern day NFL. The Eagles should be decisive. If they truly want Wentz to sit his entire rookie year, they can't veer away from that decision at the first sign of trouble.

But with so much invested in Wentz, and with a team that's more talented than the average roster a top-10 passer would go to, they should turn to the future now.