Cautious Eagles want Carson Wentz to take it slower

PHILADELPHIA -- With training camp advancing and the regular season closing in, the Philadelphia Eagles are asking quarterback Carson Wentz to do less in practice, not more.

Wentz was held out of team drills for the third consecutive session Wednesday after participating in 11-on-11s last week.

"My understanding is the coaches, trainers and everybody just want to stay in a more controlled environment right now with where we're at and everything, so that's what we're doing," Wentz said following practice.

Wentz, recovering from a torn ACL and LCL suffered against the Los Angeles Rams in December, first began participating in team drills late last week. Showing increasing mobility, he was able to scramble away from the pass rush and make plays downfield, as he did frequently last season. On Saturday, he manned the first unit and got the bulk of the snaps during an intense padded practice. He has not taken part in 11-on-11s since.

"I'm very encouraged with where he's at. And what I saw last week is enough to ease my mind. I don't need to see him in 11-on-11 drills right now," coach Doug Pederson said. "He's progressing extremely well. I don't want to subject him to a setback or anything like that. I want to keep him progressive and moving forward. And those couple days with him were very exciting and very encouraging for me."

There were a couple moments during team drills Saturday when linemen were falling around Wentz's feet, but Pederson said that's not related to the decision to pull back on his franchise quarterback.

Wentz has not missed a practice all summer. Still not cleared for contact, he has worked mostly with the second team while Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles has manned the first unit.

"It's a collaborative thing between myself, Doug, all the other coaches, really everyone upstairs in the organization and then the docs," said Wentz. "As you guys know, as a competitor I want to be out there. I want to be out there today. I want to be out there Week 1. I wanted to be out there last year. But there's certain limitations and certain things that you just can't do, and I've got to trust what they say."

Pederson did not commit when asked if Wentz would be sidelined for team drills for the rest of camp. But at least for now, Wentz's workload has been scaled back.

"All part of the plan," Pederson said. "Encouraged by what we saw and now we'll just focus on getting him ready down the road."