Even With A Playoff Appearance, Colts' GM Hints Carson Wentz Era Would Ended
Months removed from quickly fixing a mistake by trading away quarterback Carson Wentz to the Washington Commanders for a couple of draft picks, Indianapolis Colts' General Manager Chris Ballard revealed Thursday during an appearance on Pro Football Talk with Mike Florio that the franchise was likely going to move on from Wentz even with a playoff appearance.
Speaking with Florio less than a week after concluding a rather strong draft overall for the Colts, Ballard stated that even if the Colts would have made the playoffs late in the 2021 season, the Carson Wentz era would have most likely come to an end as the Colts would have hard some "hard discussions."
"I don't know," Ballard told ProFootballTalk, when asked if Wentz would've returned with a Week 18 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars that would have punched the Colts' ticket to the postseason. "I think we still would've had some hard discussions, just the way we played down the stretch, and we knew we needed to make some improvements in that area. But the one thing, I think, (owner) Jim (Irsay) and I and (coach) Frank (Reich), we're all pretty good at, like, when we know something's not a good fit, don't just try to justify it. Let's move forward.
"We all knew we were gonna get egg on our face," Ballard added. "That is what it is. But at the end of the day, it's about doing the right thing for the organization. So I think even if we would've ended up in the playoffs, we would've had some hard discussions going forward."
That shouldn't come as much of a surprise considering how Colts' owner Jim Irsay and Ballard both responded publicly after the embarrassing loss to the Jaguars in Week 18 in Jacksonville, showing rarely seen boiling emotion overall that was seemingly targeted directly at Wentz.
Just a few months later the Colts accepted that they made a mistake and quickly moved on from Wentz, shipping him to Washington, ultimately opening the door to acquire Matt Ryan from the Atlanta Falcons.
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