Free agent wide receiver Jordan Matthews is tight with Carson Wentz. That’s probably part of the reason why he returned to the Birds mid-season in 2018.

Matthews was on SiriusXM NFL Radio recently, and he was asked about the Joe Santoliquito Philly Voice story, the story Wentz himself later addressed. Matthews described the story as a “reach” –

Said Matthews, in part, after the jump:

I also think some of the quotes in the article, I don’t think they were well-thought out or very measured, only because when you’re playing through injury, when you’re coming back off a season where you don’t get to play in the playoffs and all of this stuff – if there’s any slip in character from somebody of Carson’s character, I think there should be some grace applied. I think that should be the type of posture everybody should bring to somebody like that. This dude is the face of the franchise. You think about the weight and pressure that’s on his shoulders every single day, and to miss out on being that leader and being in that position, then to come back and go right into it while also playing through pain, I think there always should be some grace applied to anybody, but definitely to somebody in that position.

Just reading it, obviously it was definitely a stretch. Even when you read the article, it feels like you’re reading like a scary story you read to your kid. It seemed like such a stretch. I think the second Carson goes out there, they’ll play the Rocky theme music, he’ll start balling, and it will all be forgotten.

That last part is certainly true. People will forget all of this if Carson goes out and throws three touchdowns in a season-opening win. I think most folks have already moved on, after reading what Wentz had to say about the article in a super-secret meeting with six Eagles beat reporters a few weeks back.