Eagles Trade Carson Wentz to Colts
Carson Wentz got his wish.
The Eagles quarterback is now the Colts quarterback after the two teams agreed to a trade on Thursday that will send Wentz to Indianapolis in exchange for Indy’s third-round pick in this year’s draft and a conditional second-round pick in 2022.
The third-round pick is the 84th overall in the draft, giving the Eagles two third-rounders this spring. Their other pick in the round is at No. 70.
More importantly, is what next year’s conditional pick will look like. The pick could rise to a first-round selection if Wentz plays 75 percent of the Colts’ snaps or he plays 70 percent of the snaps and they make the playoffs.
Given Wentz’s injury history, as well as his struggles in 2020, bumping to a first-round pick is no sure thing. If those requirements are not met, the pick stays in the second round.
By trading Wentz, the Eagles will now absorb an NFL-record for dead money, which will be close to $34 million, and the team will not see a significant saving on its salary cap charge in 2021.
The trade cannot become official until the NFL's new league year begins on March 17, and was first reported by ESPN's Adam Schefter.
But now it’s done.
After weeks of back and forth and a potential trade dominating the sports landscape in Philadelphia and beyond, Wentz and the Eagles can now move on.
The Chicago Bears reportedly had the best offer on the table, but Wentz, according to various reports, didn’t want to go to the Windy City. His preference was Indianapolis.
In Indy, he will be reunited with head coach Frank Reich, who was Wentz’s first offensive coordinator in Philadelphia after the Eagles traded up twice in 2016 in order to get the second overall pick and earn the right to select Wentz.
Reich will now have his fourth different quarterback since becoming the Colts’ head coach in 2018, days after the Eagles won their first Super Bowl, an achievement that likely would not have been possible without Wentz leading the Eagles to an 11-2 record to help make it possible to earn the No. 1 seed in the NFC before tearing two knee ligaments.
Wentz will follow Andrew Luck (2018), Jacoby Brissett (2019), and Phillip Rivers (2020) as the Colts' QBs the past three seasons and, depending on how healthy he remains and if he can rediscover his game after a disastrous 2020 season, could bring stability to the position for the next couple of years.
Wentz will also reunite with a good friend and his former QB coach and passing game coordinator Press Taylor in Indianapolis. Taylor was not retained by the new Eagles’ coaching staff but was recently hired by Reich as a senior offensive consultant. Mike Groh, who was Wentz’s OC in Philly for two seasons, is also on Reich’s staff as a WR coach.
Wentz finishes his Eagles career with a 35-32-1 record and has the only Eagles quarterback to throw for more than 4,000 yards in a season, something he did in 2019 when he 4,039. He threw for 113 touchdowns, including a single-season team record of 33 in 2017, and 50 interceptions.
His regression was so bad last year, however, when he was sacked 50 times while throwing a care-high 15 interceptions to just 16 touchdowns that the concern among other teams in acquiring him was whether or not that was a trend or if he could be fixed.
The Colts believe the latter.
Wentz was so bad that he was benched in the second half of a game in Green Bay on Dec. 6 and never saw the field again, with then-head coach Doug Pederson opting to use rookie second-round pick Jalen Hurts as his starter over the final month of the season.
With the Wentz saga now officially over in Philadelphia, it is time for the front office to move on to other business, which is expected to include a trade of tight end Zach Ertz and some tough cuts as GM Howie Roseman’s payroll is about $49M over the new cap of $180M in 2021.
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s EagleMaven. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
