By Denny Basens, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 
In the wake of Saturday's shocking trade that sent incumbent starting quarterback Sam Bradford to the Minnesota Vikings, the Philadelphia Eagles are now in the process of deciding whether to turn Bradford's job over to veteran Chase Daniel or first-round draft pick Carson Wentz.
Multiple reports seem to indicate that the Birds want to turn the reins over to Wentz right away. The coaching staff loves what the rookie has shown throughout offseason workouts, and they believe that he's ready to see the field right away.
However, the Eagles must be careful in deciding how they handle Wentz and when to put him on the field. They invested a great deal to bring the North Dakota State product to Philadelphia, and they owe it to themselves to handle his development with considerable care.
As good as Wentz may have looked in practice, there is no substitute for seeing real game action. To this point, the second overall pick has seen very little of that. His hairline fracture essentially caused him to miss all of the preseason, robbing him of valuable reps and setting his growth behind a little bit.
Also consider the fact that Wentz comes from a college program that played a lower level of competition. For him to make the jump from that to the NFL level is an enormous leap. This is one of the biggest reasons that the team was originally so content with Wentz sitting and learning through most of his rookie season.
It's fair to question whether or not playing Wentz right away would be the wisest move.
While no one is excited about the prospect of seeing Daniel to start the season, the team needs to operate with the best long-term interest in mind. It isn't necessary to play the former Chief the entire season, or even half of the season.
A reasonable scenario would seem to be to have Daniel play out the first three games of the season, and then with an early bye in Week 4, the team could make the transition to Wentz during that time and give the rookie his first start in Week 5 against the Lions. This would allow Wentz ample time to fully heal his rib injury, but it would also give him about a month more to prepare himself for the role.
The worst case scenario for Wentz would be if he's thrown to the wolves before he's ready, and the inexperience and lack of preparedness causes him to develop some bad habits that will have long-term negative impacts on himself as a quarterback.
The team has too much invested in Wentz to take a short-sighted approach with him. If they get him and his development wrong, it could set the team back considerably.
The best course of action is to take their time and only play the rookie when he's unquestionably ready. Sacrificing a handful of games with Daniel in the interim is far from the worst thing that could happen to this team.
