The Philadelphia Eagles traded a bounty of picks to move up in the 2016 draft to select Carson Wentz. Last offseason they shipped him off to the Indianapolis Colts, who yesterday, dealt him to Washington.
On the one hand, there’s a quarterback who has proven to many people in the NFL there is an asset with value. A good player that teams want to acquire. On the other hand, two teams have dumped him in consecutive years. Indicating there’s something not quite right.
Washington is on the hook for $28 million of Wentz’s contract in 2022, but nothing longer. So they get the benefit of having the chance to fix up the quarterback without the risk of a long-term contract if it doesn’t work.
“I might be in the minority [but] Carson Wentz is talented. If he can get to the right place and fix some of the things that are wrong with his game and with his demeanor, there’s a talented quarterback there,” NBC Sports Philly’s Reuben Frank told Kevin Sheehan on Thursday. “If anyone can get [Wentz] on course, it’s Ron [Rivera], there’s a good quarterback in there.”
Frank added that during a 12-game stretch when the Colts went 9-3 last season Wentz was one of the best quarterbacks in football until the final two games (defeats to the Raiders and Jaguars) were disasters for the new Washington QB.
“And he had those handful of plays that just defied logic, those plays that you just [say] ‘what is he doing? What is he thinking? How does a veteran in his sixth season make these plays?’” Frank said.
However, fixing the on-field play isn’t Rivera’s only task.
“But, obviously, there’s more to it than the production on the field [because] you don’t get rid of a quarterback after one year when you traded a first-round pick for him when he’s had 27 touchdowns and seven picks,” Frank said on The Team 980. “It’s the leadership issue, it’s getting along with his teammates, it’s being uncoachable those are the things that got Frank Reich to give up on him after one year.”
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Frank says the Eagles traded Wentz, taking on a huge cap-hit to do so, because the quarterback no longer wanted to stay in Philadelphia and it had to do with off-the-field issues.
Why did he want out of Philly? “Because he’s overly sensitive, he was insulted when they drafted Jalen Hurts in the second round two years ago, he took it personally,” Frank told Sheehan.
“He’s extremely sensitive, he gets very hurt, he’s very entitled,” he added, comparing Wentz to former Sixers guard Ben Simmons. “A guy who just thinks he’s bigger than the team and that was the biggest problem. He was not a good leader, he tried to be a leader, but it doesn’t come naturally to him. There’s issues there.
“If you’re a quarterback it is really tough to have long-term success if you’re not a leader if your teammates don’t like you or don’t respect you or won’t follow you. It just makes it very difficult.”
To sum up Wentz, Frank said, “There’s a stubbornness there, there’s an uncoachability there, there’s a lack of leadership there, but there’s also a tremendous amount of talent, it’s undeniable. But he’s 29, he turns 30 during the season and I just don’t know if he’s going to change at this point of his career.”
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