Carson Wentz ponders free agency future as second sidelined Super Bowl creeps in

NEW ORLEANS — Carson Wentz’s past and present are about to collide, but it’s the predictions for his future that might be most tantalizing.Wentz — the former Eagles franchise quarterback who was upstaged by the 2018 Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles while recovering from a torn ACL — will be on the opposite sideline Sunday as Chiefs backup quarterback in Super Bowl 2025.It’s his last game before returning to free agency.“The journey is not how I envisioned it, how I wanted it, all those things,” Wentz said, “but I’m still playing the game I love in a different role right now.”Asked recently by The Post who could be the next Geno Smith, Baker Mayfield or Sam Darnold — a former franchise quarterback who became a journeyman backup, then found a successful Act II as a starter — if there is one, two league sources suggested Wentz.You won’t hear an argument from Patrick Mahomes, who described Wentz as a film junkie who beats him into the team facility early in the morning.“He should definitely be a starter in this league,” Mahomes said.

“I saw that through OTAs.I watched him throw the football.

I watched him move around, how athletic he is.I’m hoping he gets his opportunity to have a chance like some of the other guys around the league.

I think he will go out there and maximize it.”Wentz was 11-2 and an MVP candidate before he tore his ACL in December 2017, opening the door for Foles to become a legend.The former No.

2 pick in the 2016 draft spent three more turbulent seasons in Philadelphia before a tense divorce at the start of the Jalen Hurts Era.Since then, Wentz has been on four teams in four seasons — last serving as a full-time starter for the 2021 Colts, when he put up big numbers but was blamed for the team’s late-season collapse.“I’ve grown up as a man,” Wentz said of his journey since Philadelphia.“I’ve learned my wife and family are resilient.

We’ve embraced the adventure.I’ve learned where to place my valu...