With Carson Wentz being benched for the first time in his NFL career — and rookie second-round pick Jalen Hurts starting in his place against the Saints on Sunday after taking over in the team's loss to the Packers a week earlier — rumors naturally began to swirl about the possibility of the Eagles switching course at quarterback just a year after inking Wentz to a monster contract extension and trying to trade the 27-year old from North Dakota, dead money and all.
See, there are a number of issues when it comes to potentially trading Wentz, issues that go well beyond the sunk cost of the draft capital spent to move up and take him second overall back in 2016. There's also a costly cap hit that the Eagles would have to absorb by trading Wentz — not to mention the public perception of trading a guy you not only went out of your way to acquire, but someone who you felt so confident in 12 months ago that you essentially married the team to Wentz for at least the next several years (more on that in a minute).
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But, at least according to one report, none of that may matter. It turns out the Eagles have no interest in moving on from Wentz following his worst season as a pro. Here's more from ESPN's Adam Schefter.
Philadelphia Eagles rookie quarterback Jalen Hurts will make his first NFL start Sunday, but team sources told ESPN that the Eagles still have every intention to keep Carson Wentz and have him be a major part of their team.
Despite his struggles throughout this season, the Eagles still believe in Wentz, 27, as a player and a person, and they think he can return as the type of standout quarterback he once was, according to team sources.
"None of this changes the belief that people have in Carson," one team source insisted to ESPN this weekend. [espn.com]
Before you start reading too much into this, consider the source. Schefter made a point to identify them as "team sources" and, honestly, what else do you expect the team to say? That they're completely giving up on Wentz after one bad year? Not only would that be an admission of failure after spending the last several seasons trying to build around the quarterback, but it would also completely tank his trade value.
Instead, you can expect to hear a lot of this out of the team over the next few months. Carson will be their guy. He'll be showing great things behind the scenes in their remaining practices. They'll have every confidence in him that he's going to turn it around in 2021. In fact, you might even hear some reports coming out about how the Eagles struggles on offense this season weren't actually Carson Wentz's fault, just a step beyond what some of his own teammates said earlier this week.
That's because Wentz's trade value is already at its lowest point, and when you couple that with his contract situation, the Eagles would likely need to be blown away by an offer in order to even consider absorbing that cap hit and trading the quarterback.
And that hit is substantial.
Cutting Wentz is pretty much out of the question — ask yourself why Alshon Jeffery is still on the roster, because it's essentially the same answer — even if the team designates him as a post-June 1 release. That would leave the Eagles with a $59.2 million cap hit for Wentz, more than a third of the total projected cap in 2021. But by making it a post-June 1 release, the Birds could spread that money over two years. All of this, however, would need to be done before the third day of the league year, when Wentz's 2022 base salary becomes fully guaranteed and his 2021 roster bonus comes due.
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Trading Wentz, however, seems like the only realistic option for moving on, but even that comes with a costly hit. At least in this case, the Eagles would be getting something of value in return. If the team trades Wentz before that third day of the league year (March 19), the team acquiring Wentz would be on the hook for his 2021 salary of $25.4 million and the Birds wouldn't owe him his $10 million roster bonus. The Eagles would still take a dead cap hit of $33.8 million, and while they wouldn't be able to spread that out over multiple seasons, they would be out from under the shadow of Wentz's deal in just one year.
Of course, all of this assumes the Eagles are actually giving up on the former MVP candidate.
Benching him for Hurts late in a lost season, however, is not exactly a sign that the team has lost all hope. Instead, they're simply doing the right thing. Leaving Wentz in there to get battered at a near-historic rate was a recipe for disaster, especially since they spent coveted draft capital on another quarterback back in April. Instead, the Eagles are using this as a one-month audition for Hurts, a chance for the Eagles — and potentially the rest of the NFL — to see what they have in the rookie quarterback.
No, this isn't a one-week change to allow Wentz to step back, despite Doug Pederson keeping his plans moving forward vague earlier this week. According to Chris Mortensen, it will be Hurts under center the rest of the season, as expected.
This allows the Eagles the most optionality heading into an offseason that is likely going to see major roster overhaul and perhaps big changes to the coaching staff and from office as well.
As for the Schefter report, probably don't read too much into it. At least not yet.
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