Eagles trade Wentz to Colts
PHILADELPHIA — The wait is over, but the questions and repercussions will echo for quite some time.
The Eagles are trading quarterback Carson Wentz to the Indianapolis Colts for a third-round draft pick this year and a conditional second-round pick in 2022, a league source confirmed reports from ESPN and the NFL Network Thursday.
This is far less than general manager Howie Roseman sought when he started entertaining offers, weeks after comparing being without Wentz to losing “the fingers on your hand.”
Roseman initially asked for a haul like what the Lions got from the Rams for quarterback Matt Stafford — two first-round picks, a third-rounder and QB Jared Goff. Those aspirations were widely ridiculed, given Wentz’s horrific performance in 2020 and reports that he resisted attempts to fix his flaws. The team incurs a $33.8 million dead salary cap charge for 2021 but will face no further obligation, brightening the 2022 cap picture considerably.
The Eagles were left to take the Colts’ offer when Wentz would not agree to go to Chicago, which might have offered a little more, league sources said.
The trade can’t be made official until the 4 p.m. March 17 start of the league year.
This all seemed completely unimaginable before the Eagles spent their second-round 2020 draft pick, 53rd overall, on quarterback Jalen Hurts. And even then, it seemed barely conceivable, a distant rumble of thunder on the horizon. The skies darkened quickly during the Eagles’ 4-11-1 season in 2020, with Wentz showing a disastrous, uncharacteristic knack for throwing killer interceptions, and the Eagles’ offense unable to produce. Offensive line injuries — 14 different starting combinations — and a lack of healthy weapons that has plagued the team each year after the Super Bowl season of 2017 played a role in the quarterback’s demise. But Wentz made puzzling decisions and missed easy throws as well before being benched in the second quarter of a Dec. 6 loss at Green Bay.
Wentz spoke after the Green Bay game, then never again as an Eagle.
Wentz heads for a much more promising situation. The Colts were 11-5 in 2020, then saw quarterback Philip Rivers retire. Their head coach is Frank Reich, who was the Eagles’ offensive coordinator in 2016 and 2017. They also employ as a consultant Press Taylor, Wentz’s friend and quarterbacks coach with the Eagles from 2018 through 2020.