Image via Getty/Jeff Gross
It finally happened. The latest QB domino has fallen as the Eagles have agreed to trade Carson Wentz to the Indianspolis Colts in exchange for a 2021 third-round pick and another conditional pick. We won’t know how this works out for either team until they both hit the field, but it is pretty wild how quickly the Carson Wentz era ended in Philadelphia. Things really changed when he went down with the ACL injury and the team won the Super Bowl with Nick Foles.
Now Wentz gets a fresh start with the Colts and the Eagles will presumably hand over the reigns to Jalen Hurts as their starting QB. Just an unreal turn of events. As we said, we won’t fully know how this trade turns out until we see if Wentz can turn his career around, but we picked out some early winners and losers from this deal.
Winner: Jalen Hurts
With Carson Wentz now on his way out of town, the Eagles will have no choice but to start Jalen Hurts at QB this upcoming season. Even if Wentz was still on the roster, they probably should have played Hurts, who showed some real flashes in his limited time this past season. The Eagles have a whole new coaching staff in town and will need to get a full look at Hurts at QB. Even if they decide to draft a QB this year, Hurts should get every opportunity for this to be his team going forward.
Loser: The Eagles
This is such a complicated situation for the Eagles when you look at the Carson Wentz tenure in Philadelphia. Yes, the won a Super Bowl during the time he was with the team, but it came when he was hurt and with Nick Foles at QB. All in all, the Eagles spent five draft picks to get Wentz in 2016. And then they gave him a $128 million contract only to trade him away. So yes, even with the Super Bowl win, the Eagles are losers here since Wentz is still carrying the largest cap hit in NFL history on their books.
Winner: Carson Wentz
Somehow, someway, Carson Wentz went from being one of the worst QBs in the NFL last season to getting a fresh start in Indy with his old coach Frank Reich. Who knows if Wentz will be able to turn things around in Indy, but the fact that he gets another chance in a pretty good situation is a win for him. Now we just have to see if he can get his groove back on the field because that will ulimately determine who won this trade.
Loser: Chicago Bears
As the QB musicial chairs continue to move, it looks like the Chciago Bears might be left without a seat. They were in on the Wentz talks, but couldn’t get a deal done for whatever reason. Now they’ll have to figure out where to go for their QB position for next season. Do they run it back with Mitch Trubisky? Could they trade for someone like Gardner Minshew or Marcus Mariota? None of those are really that intruiging and it’s not like they’re in great draft position to take one of the top QBs in this class. Could be another tough year in Chicago.
Winner: Colts
You sort of have to put the Cotls down as a winner here simply because they went from not having a QB to having a potentialy good QB for a 3rd round pick. Who knows if they’ll be able to fix Carson Wentz, but this is surely worth the risk for them. But don’t get us wrong, it will be an uphill battle to get Wentz back to where he was.
i truly was on the fence about trading wentz, and then a friend sent me this video. pic.twitter.com/AHgmWUPVsb
— Jeff McDevitt (@JeffMcDev) February 9, 2021
Loser: Doug Pederson
So, Doug Pederson got fired for not getting along with Carson Wentz and then the team ended up trading Wentz? Hard to to think of Pederson as a loser in this situation with the way everything played out. Yes, Pederson probably lost his job when he basically threw their week 17 game against Washington, but things didn’t even seem great before that. It’s not easy to get a NFL head coaching job, so who knows when Pederson will be back in charge of a team. Really crazy how quickly this all fell apart in Philly.