How the Carson Wentz Trade Impacts the New York Giants
The Philadelphia Eagles traded quarterback Carson Wentz to the Indianapolis Colts Thursday for a 2021 third-round draft pick and a conditional 2022 second-round pick that tunes into a first-rounder if Wentz plays in at least 75% of the Colts snaps or 70% and takes them to the playoffs.
News of the trade, first reported by ESPN, caps a messy divorce between Wentz, the Eagles' first-round pick (and second pick overall) in 2016, and the Eagles, who posted a 35-32-1 record at the helm of the Eagles.
From a cap perspective, Philadelphia will eat a record-setting $33.8 million in dead money against their salary cap, not an ideal development in a year where the NFL salary cap is projected to fall from last year's $198.2 million to as low as $180 million.
Before the trade, Over the Cap projected the Eagles' cap space as being in the red by as much as $47,339,596.
The Eagles, for their part, seem willing to roll with quarterback Jalen Hurts, their second-round pick in last year's draft, at quarterback. Hurts posted a 1-3 record for the Eagles in four starts, completing less than 56% of his pass attempts in each start.
If Hurts should stumble in 2021, the Eagles, who have four picks in the top 100 this year, could always bank on the conditional second-round pick they're getting from the Colts (which should turn into a first-rounder if Wentz stays healthy) to land their next franchise quarterback.
However, that's a risk in more ways than one, as if the Colts make the playoffs, that conditional pick is likely going to be in the bottom half of the draft, leaving the Eagles high and dry if they hope to trade up for a quarterback.
But then again, if the Eagles struggle this coming season, they'll probably have their own top-10 draft pick next year to spend on a quarterback if Hurts isn't the answer.
That's why for those thinking the trade of Wentz helps push one of the big playmakers on offense down to the Giants, you might want to wait before ordering the jersey of the top playmakers in this draft--Ja'Marr Chase of LSU, Jaylen Waddle, and Devonta Smith of Alabama, and tight end Kyle Pitts of Florida.
It's still very early, but the Eagles are probably better off drafting a playmaker for Hurts this year, which would leave one less option for the Giants at No. 11.
The silver lining for Giants fans is that the likelihood of any national prognosticator predicting the Eagles as the NFC East champions just went down the tube.
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