Carson Wentz Will Reportedly Request Trade
A day after it was reported that Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie plans on bringing back head coach Doug Pederson for the 2021 season, quarterback Carson Wentz has let it be known that he will request a trade in the offseason and do whatever he can to make one happen.
According to a report by Chris Mortensen, Wentz wants out.
“His relationship with the Eagles is all but fractured," Mortensen said on ESPN’s NFL Countdown. "In fact, it is fractured. Wentz is expected to ask the Eagles for a trade that will help the Eagles to facilitate a trade. The reaction of Jeffrey Lurie, the owner, will be vital. But right now, Wentz clearly wants out of Philadelphia and a fresh start somewhere else. That will be a big story in the offseason.”
With the Eagles going all-in on Pederson, this was the expected outcome, since there just doesn’t seem to be a path where both coach and quarterback can return together.
There isn’t much Wentz can do, however, to decrease the dead money hit the Eagles would have to eat under his current deal. The only thing he could do would be to agree to wait until after June 1 to make anything official with another team since both the dead money and salary cap aren’t as greatly impacted if a deal is struck after that date.
If something gets done prior to June, the Eagles are on the hook for a dead-money hit of $33.8 million with less than a million saved under the salary cap. The difference in waiting until after June 1, however, is significant, with the dead money hit decreasing to $9.2M and a cap savings of $25M.
Pederson was asked on Friday how being benched for the last four games of the season have impacted Wentz and what he needs to do to have a chance to win back his job in the offseason.
“I think these last four games have really allowed Carson to just kind of take a step back and just evaluate and see, work on some things that we've helped him with, things that we can continue to help him with as we move forward,” said the coach. “That's probably been the biggest thing that's come out of these last couple of weeks.
“I've got a ton of confidence in Carson Wentz and always have. Our off-season is going to be geared towards getting things fixed as quarterbacks and obviously as a team. That falls on my shoulders. That's going to be our motivation moving into this off-season.”
If Wentz does get dealt, the Eagles would have only one quarterback under contract, and that would be Jalen Hurts. Nate Sudfeld will be a free age
NOTES: Cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman was placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list on Sunday and will the game against Washington. He joins safety/CB Jalen Mills who will also miss the game after being put on the Covid list on Friday…The Eagles elevated three players from the practice squad for Sunday night’s game: safety Blake Countess, defensive end Joe Ostman, and offensive tackle Prince Tega Wanogho.
