Carson Wentz responds to critical teammates, says he's 'not perfect'

Welcome to the Tuesday edition of The Cooler, where nothing is ever exactly as it seems. Let's get to it:

*If coverage of Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz was roughly 99.9 percent positive during his rookie season and second-year ascent to MVP candidate, it has taken a turn in the last year or so.

Things probably started getting complicated in 2017, when Wentz tore his ACL and backup Nick Foles took over with a Super Bowl win. And that carried over into 2018, which Wentz spent rehabbing, reclaiming his job and then ultimately getting injured again (just in time for Foles to again rescue the season and take the Eagles to the playoffs).

If there were hints of discord along they way, they came rushing to the forefront a few weeks back when Philly Voice published a piece anonymously quoting several of Wentz's Eagles teammates being critical of the QB. The words "selfish" and "egotistical" were used, painting a far different picture of Wentz than the one to which most people — particularly those who followed his career at North Dakota State — were accustomed.

Wentz has spend a considerable amount of his NFL career rehabbing from various injuries. And now it seems he is working on rehabbing his image.

Speaking recently with select reporters, Wentz took exception to some of the details in the story but also expressed contrition for how the year played out.

"It's never fun to read, but to an extent, you look at it and be like, 'Well, if someone did have this perception of me, why? What have I done wrong? What can I get better at?'" he said, per ESPN.com. "I realize I have my shortcomings. Yes, I can be selfish. I think we all have selfishness inside of us. There's human elements to that, that I really look at and say, 'Well, I can get better.'"

He also said he was "emotionally kind of all over the place" as he tried to battle through injuries and said that while he hopes to learn from the feedback he also needs to stay true to himself.

"I'm 26 years old; my personality, to some extent, ain't going to change," he said. "What's gotten me here, what's gotten me successful, I'm not going to say, 'Oh, now I'm going to have this free-spirited, Cali-guy vibe.' That's just not going to change.

*This is from a couple of days ago, but if you missed Gophers coach Richard Pitino's adorable son coming up to him in the middle of the Purdue game and telling him he needs to go to the bathroom, you need to check this short clip.

*Julian Edelman was a reasonable Super Bowl MVP pick, but a defensive player also should have warranted consideration in THE LOWEST-SCORING SUPER BOWL EVER. But per MMQB, a defensive player didn't even garner a single MVP vote.

*Some good numbers in this Warren Sharp thread on just how poor the game plan was from the Rams and Sean McVay on Sunday.

*The Anthony Davis trade chatter is a fascinating story of leverage. Basically, the Lakers are desperate to make a deal by Thursday's deadline, knowing full well that Boston and some other teams could be more aggressive in pursuing a deal this summer. I still think Boston can offer the Pelicans the best deal in July, but if the Lakers essentially up the offer to "all the picks and every player but LeBron," maybe they get there?

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