Carson Wentz bought his offensive linemen more than $24,000 worth of personalized shotguns
It is a long-standing tradition in the NFL for quarterbacks and running backs to buy gifts for the offensive linemen who do all of the grunt work. For Philadelphia Eagles rookie quarterback Carson Wentz, that meant showing his linemen how much he loves to hunt.
According to Tim McManus of ESPN, Wentz bought each of his linemen a Beretta shotgun. On top of that, each shotgun is personalized with each player's number on the butt of the gun.
Left guard Allen Barbre told McManus that he believes the guns are a Silver Pigeon model. According to Beretta, the Silver Pigeon Sporting has a suggested retail price of $2,400. There are ten offensive linemen listed on the Eagles depth chart (not including the tight ends), which brings the total cost to $24,000, and that is before the customization.
Here is Silver Pigeon Sporting, via Beretta:
Wentz, who is from North Dakota, is an avid hunter. He even spent his bye week this season bow hunting.
While both Barbre and fellow lineman Brandon Brooks said they are already active gun owners who hunt and go clay shooting, for at least one of the linemen, this is his first gun.
"I haven't really held a gun or anything before," rookie Isaac Seumalo told ESPN. "But I'm more than thankful for it. It looks sweet. Carson said he'd teach me how to use it and all that good stuff."
As for safety, at least one group is stepping up to help out.
CeaseFirePA, a gun-violence-prevention group heard about the gifts and told Philly.com that they were sending each lineman a gun lock. They are also encouraging the players to take a gun-safety course.
"Our staff's immediate reaction to the news about Wentz's gifts to his teammates was to ensure that the gifts were used safely and responsibly," Shira Goodman, CeaseFirePA's executive director, said in a statement.