’Tis the season to prepare for a Wentz-less future
This could be the last Christmas together for Eagles head coach Doug Pederson and quarterback Carson Wentz.
One or the other almost certainly is moving on in what is shaping up as the Eagles’ most painful offseason since Jeffrey Lurie canned Andy Reid following the 2012 campaign.
There will be no Super Bowl parade in 2021. If the Eagles make the right decisions, there could be a worst-to-first rally in 2022 and who knows, maybe even an extended playoff run. But something has to be done. The old saying, “nothing changes if nothing changes” is apropos here.
Wentz’s biggest apologists are beginning to realize that Jalen Hurts has a superior skillset to compete in this age of mobile, strongarmed quarterbacks who are effective in and out of the pocket and get rid of the ball quickly. In two starts Hurts has not only shown that he can make the throws but that they’re catchable, as opposed to heat-seeking missile spinning this way or that. Hurts’ decision-making has improved weekly.
Whatever leadership role Wentz had expired when Pederson took the starting job away. The frustration mounted long before that happened, Wentz showing his unhappiness publicly at times in discussions with the coaches on the sideline.
For those wondering what took Pederson so long to move on from Wentz this season, the head coach quietly wanted to start Hurts against the Cleveland Browns. That would have been interesting. The Eagles lost that game by just five points although they never seriously threatened the Browns.
The following week, Wentz was on the verge of being pulled after five three-and-outs in the first half against the Seattle Seahawks, who have one of the worst defenses in the league this season. He survived with a late two-minute drive in the first half and ultimately the Eagles lost by six points. Of course, they scored their last eight with 12 seconds left.
Pederson finally yanked Wentz after a brutal first half and first series of the second half of the loss to the Green Bay Packers. Hurts gave the Eagles an immediate lift and in his first start the next week, beat the New Orleans Saints, who statistically had the best defense in the league. More recently, who thought Hurts would have the Eagles on the doorstep of defeating the Arizona Cardinals after all the special team gaffes compounded by the concussion sustained by punter/holder Cameron Johnston?
Yet there Hurts was, game on the line, putting enough air on the ball to get it in the hands, if not for long, of Dallas Goedert and Travis Fulgham in the end zone on back-to-back Hail Mary passes.
Just positioning the Eagles for a shocking victory — a successful twopoint conversion would have immortalized Hurts — was spectacular.
Unless the front office is into unbearable pain, there is no going back to Wentz, despite the conservative opinions of executives who worked in the league, and in some cases for the Eagles.
While the execs insist the Eagles wouldn’t absorb what would be a record $34 million hit in dead cap money by trading Wentz, how has living with the contracts of Alshon Jeffery and DeSean Jackson worked?
The Pittsburgh Steelers took a record $21 million hit in dead money when they shipped wide receiver
Antonio Brown to the Oakland Raiders in March 2019. Though they missed the playoffs for just the second time in six seasons (the injury to Ben Roethlisberger didn’t help), they’ve moved on, atop their division at 11-3 this year.
There’s also the option of a post-June 1st trade that for the Eagles would spread the hit over two years. While teams obviously would want the quarterback sooner, this offseason figures to be almost as restrictive as the last one unless the COVID-19 pandemic changes drastically.
Another option for the Eagles would be to bring in another coach and give Wentz a fresh start. Just the knowledge that longtime general manager John Dorsey has been working for the Eagles as a consultant evokes images of him hiring Chiefs offensive coor
dinator Eric Bieniemy in to replace Pederson. The buzz is that Dorsey and Bieniemy will be a package deal.
So, what do the Eagles do? Bite the bullet and keep Wentz as they’ve done with other grossly overpaid veterans who don’t contribute? Trade him? Fire Pederson, cross their fingers and hope Wentz comes back better than ever? Fire Howie Roseman?
Difficult as it is, Lurie owes it to Eagles fans to eat the $34 million and send Wentz to a happy place. He’ll need help from Wentz to make that deal, meaning there’s no hope of getting a first-round draft pick. The best you can reasonably expect is a secondday selection.
The Eagles have done everything they can to make Wentz comfortable, whether it was getting rid of Nick
Foles, the Super Bowl 52
MVP, bringing in nonthreatening 40-year-old Josh McCown to back him up or writing up that four-year, $128 million contract extension.
None of those remedies worked.
Pederson and Hurts is the play, and the Eagles will have to tough it out for a year. But that’s a lot more palatable than the alternative. It’s only money. Lurie can make it up on the new NFL TV deal that could double the $5 billion the league is pulling in. And you might want to think about how you can get the best out of this franchise without Roseman, whose last big win was trading up in the draft to secure Wentz.