Carson Wentz and the Money Trail that Led to Fractures

Even at such a high cost of letting the former franchise go in a trade, Jeffrey Lurie believes the record-breaking cost of doing it is worth it

PHILADELPHIA - In many ways, the Eagles' impending divorce with Carson Wentz is a lot like their recent coaching search.

Ask multiple sources on how the relationship was fractured so quickly and you'll get multiple answers. You can then stop when you get an answer you like, Jeffrey Lurie's Nick Sirianni for these purposes.

After diving into the text messages in recent days my head is spinning but the one thing that is unequivocal is that Lurie is willing to eat $33.8 in dead money, a number that would shatter the current record by $11.6M.

To understand the enormity of that decision by Lurie, consider the way the NFL does business when it comes to contracts, which are based on timing and circumstance.

For instance, when Wentz inked his four-year extension in June of 2019 he set the new standard for guaranteed money.

The timeline went like this: in February 2018, the San Francisco 49ers signed Jimmy Garoppolo to a contract that averaged a then-record-setting $27.5M. By March of that year, Minnesota's Kirk Cousins got a deal that averaged $28M per season. In May Atlanta's Matt Ryan became the first player to average $30 million per season.

The increments ticked up little by little when it was all-world Aaron Rodgers' turn to get his extension from the Green Bay Packers when things spiked to $33.5M.

As 2019 rolled around Russell Wilson set the new standard at $35M. The next dominoes stayed underwater (Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger $34M per) and Wentz himself at $32M but the $107M in guarantees matched Wilson for the most ever.

The reason we are taking you down that list is to highlight how the bar always moves but it moves slowly and the same holds true in the other direction.

The recent dead-money standard was $21M by the Los Angeles Rams for Brandin Cooks before Antonio Brown's off-field behavior pushed that to $21.8M. More recently Sean McVay's move away from Jared Goff cost Rams' billionaire owner Stan Kroenke $22.2M more of sunk cost.

By any objective standard, the next move should be about $23M at the most, but Lurie has rubber-stamped an enormous $33.8M hit to get Wentz out of his building.

I’m w you John. There is something I do not know, the knowing of which changes everything. https://t.co/lefrXdItM0

— Randy Mueller (@RandyMueller_) February 7, 2021

Those assuming Doug Pederson was the only problem are dead wrong and no one can really tell you what straw that broke this camel's back for one simple reason: because it wasn't one straw.

It was a multitude of things, everything from injuries to personality to an unwillingness to accept coaching and a work-ethic targeted in selfish decision-making. Mix in the loss of autonomy and the lack of trust when Jalen Hurts was drafted and you have the ingredients of a perfect storm.

What the dead-money figure does tell you, however, is that Lurie feels the relationship is not worth saving.

Actions speak louder than words and money speaks even louder than actions.

The Eagles want out of the Wentz business at all costs.

And Howie Roseman has to hope Chris Ballard, Ryan Pace, John Lynch, Mike Mayock, and Scott Fitterer don't come to the same conclusion.

John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Tuesday and Thursday on "The Middle" with Eytan Shander, Harry Mayes, and Barrett Brooks on SportsMap Radio and PhillyVoice.com. He’s also the host of Extending the Play on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen

Ed Kracz is the publisher of EagleMaven. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.