Well.
We're about to see one heck of an offseason for the Philadelphia Eagles franchise.
Just announced Thursday morning (via 6abc.com) former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, Carson Wentz, was traded to the Indianapolis Colts in exchange for a 2021 third-round draft pick and a conditional 2022 second-round pick that could turn into a first-rounder, per ESPN sources.
In this article, we're going to discuss Wentz's career with the Eagles through the years and what led to the decision of the Eagles' franchise quarterback trade.
2016-2017
Wentz’s first year as a Philadelphia Eagle. At just 24 years old, Wentz had a near-perfect first year playing through and starting the full 16 games. Wentz and Co. went 7-9 with him starting. You don’t expect a lot from a quarterback’s rookie season – unless he is Tom Brady or Patrick Mahomes. Wentz started all 16 games with the other time being 2019. He had 379 completions for 3,782 yards. Statistically, 2016 and 2020 Wentz were quite the same. Did he regress? Was it the lack of weapons? Not quite sure. Having these stats in a rookie season is okay, not when you’ve played with the same team for 4-5 years.
2017-2018 (Super Bowl year)
As a sports fan, you will face highs and lows of your team. For Eagles fans, this was definitely a high. When talking about Wentz, most people refer to this year as the career high for Wentz while with the Eagles, but it would be the following year that statistically proves Wentz’s career high. He had 33 passing touchdowns this year, a 60.2% pass completion, and only 7 interceptions. It was also this year that Wentz had a career low in sacks with only 28 sacks in the season. I remember clear as day, getting ready to go on a cruise, I heard that Wentz tore his ACL. Wentz gave us an 11-2-0 record going into the playoffs, and people were quite skeptical of the former backup, Nick Foles. They rallied around Wentz to have the spark to win a Super Bowl. It was these two that gave Eagles fans their first Super Bowl, and now they’re gone.
2018-2019
Would we have seen a second Super Bowl run? It sure felt that way until it unfortunately didn’t happen. It wasn’t Wentz’s best season, but it certainly wasn’t his worst. He started 11 games and went 5-6 under starting before having his season end due to injuries, to which Foles took over to bring the Eagles to a second round of playoffs. This was a pretty average season for Wentz all things considered. He had a career high pass rating of 69.6% and the third highest amount of passing touchdowns, 21. Looking at the stats from this season, Wentz played alright considering he was battling injuries.
2019-2020
Looking back, it would have made sense that Wentz could have gave us another Super Bowl. I worked at the Lincoln Financial Field stadium during this season, so I was there for every high and low of this game – and there were a lot. Wentz looked pretty average all season, but once December rolled around, he was a powerhouse. A force to be reckon with. Most people seem to forget that Wentz had an explosive season leading up to playoffs, and maybe we could have won a second Super Bowl had he not taken a dirty hit from Jadeveon Clowney, former Seahawks linebacker. Going 9-7-0, Wentz also started and played the whole season. He had 388 completions for 4,039 yards, both being career highs while an Eagle. Under Wentz’s awesome 2019 season, the Eagles won 4/5 December games, all being crucial rival games. Surely Jeffrey Lurie and Howie Roseman didn’t forget about this season, right?
2020-2021
The 2020 season was one of the dark seasons for Eagles fans. Sure, Wentz was looking rough right off the bat with 5+ sacks in their season opener, but that wasn’t totally his fault. The offensive line started in 14 different combinations in the 16-game stretch, with the last few of those games having Hurts start. Injuries. Injuries. Injuries. That’s what killed this team this season. However, having an o-line that can’t – or possibly chose not to – protect its seasoned quarterback poses huge issues. This is where Howie, the Eagles general manager, went wrong. If an offensive line can work for Hurts, but not Wentz, we have a major issue that can only be resolved with major team reconstruction.
So what happened? Was it on Wentz? Or was it on the general manager not providing better weapons and making crucial moves when he knew our offensive line was injury-prone and unable to protect Wentz? In a survey conducted on my social media page, more than two-thirds of people think the Carson Wentz trade was a smart decision. No matter how you view it, it’s on Howie Roseman, Eagles General Manager, that we have lost two quarterbacks that helped us get to the Super Bowl. When making these trades people always ask who “won” this trade, and I believe it’s Wentz who won. Wentz deserves to go back with his former offensive coach, now head coach Frank Reich, to ball out with the Indianapolis Colts.
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