Carson Wentz deserves a lot of credit.
It’s not easy to completely tear down three franchises over the span of three seasons the way Wentz has.
The Eagles saw it in 2020 when Wentz was ranked among the worst starting quarterbacks in the NFL before he was benched with 4 games remaining in a miserable 4-11-1 season.
And they’ll see it in their next two games, when they face Wentz’s current team, the Washington Commanders on Monday night, followed by his former team, the Indianapolis Colts, six days later.
With the Eagles, the fallout was quick and devastating. Wentz asked for a trade, the Eagles fired head coach Doug Pederson, and then started over.
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To the Eagles’ credit, they rebuilt behind quarterback Jalen Hurts and head coach Nick Sirianni, to the point where they’re off to an 8-0 start this season, with Hurts playing like the MVP that Wentz was supposed to be.
When the Eagles last saw Wentz, back on Sept. 25, they sacked him 9 times, and forced and recovered 2 fumbles in their 24-8 win. The game wasn’t that close. In the first half, Wentz completed 3 of 10 for 24 yards. He was sacked 6 times. The Eagles led 24-0.
It’s quite possible Wentz would’ve been benched by now if he didn’t break his finger against the Bears on Oct. 13, when the Commanders improved to 2-4 with an uninspiring 12-7 win in which Wentz threw for 99 yards.
Wentz is on injured reserve, out until at least Nov. 20, while his replacement, Taylor Heinicke has gone 2-1 in his place.
In fairness, Wentz is hardly the Commanders’ only problem. Look no further than owner Dan Snyder’s misogyny, mismanagement and general malevolence. He is being encouraged to sell the team.
It hasn’t been much better on the field. The Commanders have had 11 starting quarterbacks since Kirk Cousins left following the 2017 season.
But Wentz hasn’t helped Washington, or anyone else, for that matter.
The Colts are still feeling the repercussions from Wentz’s lone season there in 2021. After that season, the Colts traded Wentz to Washington, then traded for Matt Ryan to replace him.
That was a disaster, too, and it cost head coach Frank Reich his job on Monday.
But really, Reich was the fall guy. He had a different quarterback start Week 1 in each of his five seasons. Rather than continue the quarterback carousel, the Colts apparently are tearing it down to find a franchise quarterback in the draft next spring.
How else to explain the Colts hiring Jeff Saturday, who has no coaching experience at the pro or college level? And how else to explain Saturday then naming Parks Frazier to call plays? Frazier, who’s 30 years old, was promoted from assistant quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator.
Good luck!
You might be wondering how that is Wentz’s fault.
Well, when the Colts traded for Wentz, giving the Eagles a third-round pick and a first-round pick, they believed that they had their quarterback for the next few years at least. Sure, Wentz was coming off the awful 2020 season with the Eagles, but Reich was the Eagles’ offensive coordinator in 2017 when Wentz led the Eagles to an 11-2 record before tearing his ACL.
Reich firmly believed he could bring that Wentz back. He couldn’t. The Colts missed the playoffs last season, and Reich was on borrowed time.
The Colts will be starting over at quarterback after the season. So will the Commanders.
It’s easy to see why.
Since the start of the 2020 season, Wentz has a record of 14-20-1. He has completed 60.5% of his passes, thrown 53 touchdown passes and 28 interceptions. His passer rating is a mediocre 84.5. All of which is down slightly from his mediocre career numbers of 62.6% completions and 89.7 rating.
This season is no different. Wentz has completed 62.1% of his passes, with 10 TDs and 6 INTs and a passer rating of 84.1.
In other words, this is who Wentz is one month before his 30th birthday: consistently inconsistent.
Wentz might never play for the Commanders again. It’s possible that head coach Ron Rivera will stick with Heinicke once Wentz is eligible to return. Heinicke, after all, had the Commanders on the verge of knocking off the 7-1 Vikings last Sunday.
Heinicke has thrown for 629 yards in three-plus games, completing 63% of his passes, with 5 TDs and 3 INTs with a passer rating of 87.6.
Clearly, Heinicke hasn’t been much better than Wentz. But he hasn’t been worse.
“(Heinicke) presents a certain challenge because he can make a lot of off-schedule plays,” Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon said. “He doesn’t have a lot of fear of throwing the ball into coverage. He’s got good skill guys around him. He gives them chances to make plays on 50-50 balls.”
Those were supposed to be Wentz’s attributes.
And then there’s the money. Wentz counts $28.3 million against the Commanders’ salary cap this season, and he will count $26.2 million against the cap next season − unless Washington releases him. In that case, the Commanders won’t face a dead money hit.
If you’re wondering which way Washington might be leaning, the Commanders used Heinicke’s picture last Sunday in a videoboard ad for 2023 season tickets.
Heinicke, who makes about 11% of Wentz’s salary, is eligible for free agency after the season.
There’s also this telling comment from Rivera, who was asked about what the three games with Heinicke have been like.
“A roller-coaster ride, man,” Rivera told reporters after the game Sunday. “It’s been well enough to give us a chance to win in two of the last three games, obviously.”
That’s more than he can say about Wentz. The Eagles and Colts know the feeling.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
