THE DIVORCE OF CARSON WENTZ AND PHILADELPHIA, AND WHY INDIANA IS THE OTHER WOMAN

 

That's The Look of a Franchise QB

The marriage between the Philadelphia Eagles and their quarterback, Carson Wentz, looks to be on thinning ice. After the Eagles’ 23-17 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Monday night, it appeared that Carson Wentz’s beheading would commence on the steps of City Hall within twelve hours (please don’t take “beheading” literally). ESPN, the broadcaster of the game, was perplexed that Jalen Hurts, the rookie quarterback whom the Eagles drafted in the second round, did not replace Carson Wentz (partially this was ESPN’s fault for overblowing the potential that Hurts would replace Wentz).

Wentz is recording career lows in completion percentage (58.1%), yards thrown (2,541), quarterback rating (73.4), but is recording career highs in interceptions thrown (15). Granted, Wentz’s demise is a team effort. Lane Johnson, Eagles’ star right tackle, is out for the remainder of the season and the offensive line was in their tenth iteration when appearing in Monday‘s game. No surprise that Wentz leads the leagues in sacks received – 46.

But not all the blame can be laid at the thick calves’ of the Eagles offensive line or on the immense shoulders of Wentz but also should be laid at the hands of the Eagles’ receiving corps. Wentz has been given, on average, 2.9 seconds to pass the ball, which, according to Next Gen Stats, makes Wentz the seventh highest quarterback with Time to Throw. However, the sacks are coming from a receiving corps that cannot separate themselves from the defense. Richard Rogers has the best average separation, according to Next Gen Stats, on the Philadelphia Eagles at 3.5 yards of separation on average. However, Richard Rogers is a tight end and so the Eagles best receiver at gaining separation is Greg Ward – 3.3 yards on average. The latter is below the league average. Finally, the offense has been sliding since the departure of Frank Reich, the Eagles former offensive coordinator and now the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. In 2017, the Eagles finished with the third best offense in the league, per profootballreference.com, and have steadily declined further – 18, 12, and currently ranked 25. Offensive declines over numerous seasons start to point more towards the head coach than any one player. In turn, the Eagles’ head coach, Doug Pederson, deserves some blame for his team’s decline.

 

At Least Wentz Has 3 Linemen to Help Him Up

Despite all the reasons why Carson Wentz is not the reason for the Eagles troubles, the Eagles should still look to trade Wentz and they should trade him to the Indianapolis Colts. The Cornercube cannot take responsibility for this idea and does wish to credit Boomer Esiason for birthing this idea on Boomer’s radio show. Regardless, the idea makes some sense. First, Wentz was prolific while Frank Reich was the Eagles offensive coordinator especially during the 2017 season. In that 2017 season and before Wentz was injured, Wentz had career highs in completion percentage (69.6%), and quarterback rating (102.2). So, a Reich and Wentz reunion looks to be a better marriage than the one presently between Wentz and the abusive city of Philadelphia. Second, the Colts are looking to be a team that is a quarterback away from being a serious Super Bowl contender. The Colts have a great offensive line, a steady receiving corps and a top ten defense. Additionally, with the Philip Rivers experience looking to be more of a blunder than not and the fact both quarterbacks (Philip Rivers and Jacoby Brissett) on Indy will be free agents next off season, it seems likely the Colts will be looking for suitors at the position. Third, because the Eagles signed Wentz to an enormous $128 million extension back in 2018, their only option, should they want to part ways with Wentz, is via trade. However, because of Wentz’s high price tag there are only a few teams that (1) need a quarterback and (2) have the cap space to pay Wentz. Luckily for the Eagles, Indianapolis fits both those requirements. In 2021, the Colts will have a cap space of $65 million, according to overthecap.com.

The metrics and reasoning are there but are the Eagles willing to file the divorce papers? It does not seem likely. This is because if the Wentz ship was set to sail, Jalen Hurts, the Eagles backup quarterback taken in the second round of this year’s draft, would have started. The Eagles would want to see what they have in their rookie, granted he’d face the same disaster of an offense that Wentz has been getting clobbered in.

Frank Reich Wants Neither QB, only Wentz

The media repeatedly touts that the reason why the Eagles are not looking to move on from Wentz is due to the amount of money they have invested in him.  This is partially true, but the longer the Eagles wait to move on from Wentz, the more money they have to pay him and the chances that Wentz’s value decreases. For instance, if next year Wentz’s demise on the Eagles continues, the likelihood a team would be willing to take him off the Eagles’ books becomes less likely. More importantly, the Eagles are less likely to receive something meaningful in a trade. Whereas if the Eagles trade Wentz now, when his decline is early, they may be able to get a third and fourth round draft pick from a willing team (i.e. Colts) and most importantly, get a major expense off their books.

The more obvious reason that the Eagles will not move on from Wentz this year is because of pride. The Eagles traded up to the number two spots in the 2016 draft in order to get Wentz. In 2018 Wentz had a Pro Bowl year and helped lead his team into Super Bowl contention and by extension a Super Bowl win. The organization has pride in their pick and would hate to trade something they spent so much on, both in terms of salary and in terms of draft capital. Keeping Wentz could prove this pride to be poisonous and result in not only Wentz losing his job but also the organization’s general manager, Howie Roseman, and Doug Pederson losing theirs.