ESPN’s Louis Riddick offers bold prediction about Carson Wentz
Riddick's bold predictions carry weight, considering he's been right the past two seasons.
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On a quiet Memorial Day, ESPN NFL Insider Louis Riddick rolled out a bold prediction involving Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz.
Riddick, a former Eagles scout and Quakertown native who joined ESPN in 2013, said Wentz would bounce back from injury to be named the league’s MVP next season.
While Riddick is just one of many NFL insiders at ESPN, his prediction does hold some weight. As Golic & Wingo host Trey Wingo noted, Riddick correctly predicted Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff would bounce back from a subpar rookie season to win the league’s MVP award in 2017.
Ahead of last season, Riddick predicted that Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Pat Mahomes would “set the league on fire” and have a better 2018-2019 season than Goff. Mahomes did just that, tossing 50 touchdown passes and ending the year as the league’s MVP.
After suffering season-ending injuries the past two seasons, Wentz made changes to his diet and in his focus on nutrition during the off-season. The Eagles gunslinger has also sought different training techniques, echoing the regimen of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.
“I’ve tried transforming my body a little bit this offseason,” Wentz told reporters last week. “I’ve seen a lot of development there personally. I think it’ll help going forward staying healthy and with longevity.”
Riddick’s optimism about Wentz comes after former Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb came under fire from fans and at least one current player for suggesting the team should replace Wentz as starting quarterback if he couldn’t lead the Eagles past the second round of the playoffs over the next two seasons.
In addition to his role as a studio analyst on Monday Night Football and other ESPN shows, Riddick will be in the booth to call the Week 1 match-up between the Denver Broncos and Oakland (soon to be Las Vegas) Raiders as part of ESPN’s season-opening doubleheader on Sept. 9. Riddick doesn’t have any experience working in the booth, but that hasn’t stopped him from revealing his desire to call Monday Night Football games.
“This is something that has been a goal of mind and ESPN is very well aware that I am very interested in it,” Riddick said last year on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast.