At whatever cost, Birds must add weapons for Wentz

The Eagles may have been right about Carson Wentz, or they may have been way, way wrong when they overspent on his draft rights. Either way, it still may cost them to find out.

By trading two No. 1 picks, a No. 2, a No. 3 and a No. 4 for a mid-major college quarterback with impressive credentials, the Birds immediately acquired a new obligation.

In order to protect their investment, they would have to decorate Wentz with appropriate pass catchers. Even if they did pick up a fourth-round pick from Cleveland and then recoup some of their cost in the subsequent offloading of Sam Bradford to Minnesota, the Birds could not spend that heavily on one player without providing him with his best chance to flourish. It’s why they are one of a few teams, according to reports, deeply interested in trading for the Saints’ Brandin Cooks, whose contract is friendly to the cap and whose speed is not so neighborly toward cornerbacks.

Cooks, who caught 78 passes last season, is 23 and available. The Eagles cannot enter another season without upgrading their receivers and Cooks would be the ideal complement to Wentz, short term and long. But, Sean Payton is in New Orleans growling that the price will be ro-

bust. So if Howie Roseman wants Cooks, he will have to start peeling off draft picks again, one at a time, until Payton says when.

There are other ways for the Birds to protect their Wentz investment. Free agency is always an option. The draft itself. Another trade, maybe. But they are said to be in the Cooks hunt with Tennessee, New England and others. So if they are in, they might as well try to win.

If Wentz, Cooks, or the combination of both fails, the Birds will be draftpick-poor for a generation. If it succeeds, they could be champions. It’s a worthwhile risk … emphasis, though, on risk.

The Eagles finished in last place, missed the playoffs for third consecutive season, and raised ticket prices. That makes this the place for the outrage.

Surprise. There is nothing outrageous about their decision at all.

Because of the way the way the ticket industry has evolved, with computer programs effectively making the scalper obsolete, the core reason for many to hold NFL tickets anymore is to flip as many as they can for a profit. So why shouldn’t the Eagles – or the Sixers, who also have instituted surge pricing – be entitled for a piece of that little back-door profit?

The value of tickets is the value of tickets. And the entity at the top of the chain should be able to move them at that value before allowing would-be profits to leak to the buyers … and the re-buyers.

Seems Wentz’s unusual throwing motion has come at a cost. Reports have surfaced that the Birds quarterback suffered elbow pain during the season and was advised by Doug Pederson to keep his offseason passing activity to a minimum.

“You’ve got to continually refine your mechanics,” Wentz said. “I don’t think

there’s any one big glaring thing. But you’ve got to be consistent.”

That would be a good idea. So would keeping him away from the 76ers’ sports scientists.

In light of all the carry-on at the Oscars, any chance that Paul Tagliabue was handed the wrong envelope and the Eagles really did draft Ricky Williams?

★★★

I’ll text you when I begin to get John Oliver. Today’s not looking good, though, so don’t think you have to keep checking your phone.

★★★ Ever searching for ways to speed the game, baseball may smother the fourpitch intentional walk, instead allowing a pitcher to just motion a hitter to first base. That should shave a good 30 seconds off any game. And what a treat that would be for the fans when a World Series game ends at 12:01 in the morning instead of 12:02.

It’s a good thing, though, that baseball doesn’t mess with that tradition that all fans pay to see. That would be some old man in a baseball uniform shuffling to the mound 10 times a night to talk to a pitcher. Yep, when that scene happens, it’s a virtual explosion of camera-phone flashes, with no one daring miss one riveting stride.

No, don’t end that tradition. It’s too vital to the game, even if it adds about three hours of overall time to any homestand. But that intentional walk? That must go.

With a special OK from the commissioner’s office, the Phillies have been allowed to consider Pete Rose for their Wall of Fame.

Don’t let it get around, but I’m thinking it’s about time that Rose was freed from a system that tolerates and rewards cocaine junkies who may or may not have played drunk, but which maintains a oneman penitentiary for the all-time leader in hits who only tried to win and occasionally might have bet money that he could. (Or, as the G.M.s call it when they essentially do the same

thing, designing an incentive clause.)

★★★

There has never been a tweet worthy of being pinned.

★★★ OK, it’s a reach. But the UFC seemed to rise in popularity just about the time the NHL decided to become down-sized soccer.

Some sports need an edge. Some don’t. So bring back the hockey fight. Bring back the blood – the literal and the bad − that goes with it. Bring back the rivalries it creates. Bring back the stars it makes. Bring back the highlights it demands. Bring it back before a generation forgets that a game played on a slippery surface surrounded by walls is at its most entertaining when the participants are being toppled.

• Ah, what a great time of year coming up for sports TV watching. Too bad, though, that those hours of TV house-ads for the upcoming Masters tournament have to be interrupted by that darn college basketball playoff.

• Though he shouldn’t, Joel Embiid still may be Rookie of the Year. But if no rookie is better than a guy who played just 31 times (and never with an OK to play more than 28 minutes), why is it again that any draft is so loaded with talent that a team would have to tank an entire season for premium selection position?

Tough luck, Jerad Eickhoff. Says here you will be an All-Star this season. Sorry in advance for the jinx. ★★★

Only platinum cardholders are entitled to attend the NFL draft-combine watching party at the I Don’t Get It Casino and Spa. Free cauliflower and those mini-carrots with dip.