Carson Wentz will probably open the season on the inactive list

Hey, remember when the NFL draft hype machine was at its peak and Jared Goff and Carson Wentz were supposedly grading out higher than Jameis Winston did last year? No? Well, that sure was a thing that happened, somehow.

Fun new fact: Carson Wentz will start the season the inactive list, expects Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Doug Pederson, according to the Philly Voice.

We haven’t heard all that much about Jared Goff in Los Angeles, either. It’s still early in the offseason, though, and all of this could change. Who knows, maybe Wentz will even be active for the Eagles’ season opener. But it’s a kind of stunning contrast with the rhetoric last offseason, when the only question surrounding the top quarterbacks wasn’t whether they’d be active, or even whether they’d start, just when their teams would officially announce them as starting quarterbacks.

This is all the more striking given that both the Eagles and the Rams gave up a plethora of draft picks to move up and grab Wentz and Goff, respectively. Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tennessee Titans could just stay put and grab their preferred quarterbacks at the top of last year’s draft. And those two quarterbacks started the season, and played well.

All of that underscores how lucky the Bucs were to have the first overall pick in last year’s draft, when two top-quality, instant impact quarterbacks were available.