The Eagles created this monster.
As what feels like a never-ending trade saga rolls on, that's what I keep coming back to. The Eagles are in what feel like a no-win situation, forced to dump $34M in cap pace to help spur a rebuild, placate a frustrated quarterback and move the franchise forward.
Carson Wentz may be the side pushing for a trade, but it's every action up to this point that's brought us here.
Yet this isn't a column about poor roster management, a statue of Nick Foles outside Lincoln Financial Field, or the indignity of drafting Jalen Hurts in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Instead, this is intended to shine a light on all the mistakes the Eagles have made by enabling a player that took it to his head. Hopefully, the next Eagles franchise quarterback isn't brought along the same way.
The Eagles rolled the red carpet out for Wentz from the minute he arrived in Philadelphia. He was the guy. Doug Pederson talked about being married to him and joined at the hip. Questions were asked (and answers given) comparing him to all-time greats within his first month in the NFL. Every big move was made with Wentz's benefit in mind. The most guaranteed money in NFL history was thrown his way despite back-to-back season-ending injuries, two losing seasons in three years and zero playoff snaps. Coaches were fired that didn't see eye to eye with the franchise quarterback. The head coach went to the podium every week with the intention of covering for the mistakes this quarterback made in 2020, which may have included downright insubordination on some play calls.
We can knock the execution of how the Eagles built around Wentz, but we can't pretend this franchise didn't try.
Alshon Jeffery and Torrey Smith were signed as soon as free agency opened in 2017. This franchise has allocated more money on offense than defense in each of the last four years. First and second round picks since 2018 include: Tight end, offensive tackle, wide receiver, running back, wide receiver. The Eagles own the most expensive right side of the line in NFL history, and played with two likely Hall of Famers on the line at most times during Wentz's tenure. Instead of waiting on a Wentz contract extension or building the team to fit what he actually was and is (a glorified game manager that can be part of a winning team if he's asked to do less, similar to Ravens-era Joe Flacco), the Eagles went all in on Wentz as the franchise player and tried to run an offense through him.
The idea that Wentz wants out (pushing the process of his eventual exit and hurting the Eagles potential trade leverage) is laughable, but par for the course. The Eagles are the parent that nurtured a spoiled child. This is on the franchise, not the player who now wants to exit at the first sign of true adversity and would rather not fight for his spot here.
Why would Wentz want to compete for his position now when he's never had to before? Why would Wentz be OK with a franchise that is suddenly looking out (the drafting of Hurts) for its long-term interests, not just trying to acquire weapons for Wentz to play with? Why would Wentz be OK playing for a team that labeled him an "asset" just one month ago?
He wouldn't, and is reportedly not because he's not used to this. The Eagles have flipped the script on the guy they once believed in. Instead of spoiling the quarterback they once wanted to believe was special, they are now trying tough love. It's backfired. Of course it has.
A parent can't just go from letting a child do whatever they want to expecting some sort of respect and discipline. It doesn't work like that. The Eagles created a monster with a franchise quarterback that never earned the accolades given, wasn't worth the money he was paid, and never should have had any sway over the roster or coaching decisions.
Team owner Jeff Lurie and roster builder Howie Roseman thought they had an all-time great at the position, and deferred to him accordingly. Oops! Wentz turned out to be way closer to a Bengals-level Andy Dalton or current version of Ryan Fitzpatrick, only with a gigantic portion of the salary cap and inflated ego attached to the deal.
Are the Eagles in a bad place? Yes. Is trading Wentz off his worst year logical, especially in a market filled with quarterback options? Of course not. Are the Eagles on the path to getting less than they want while eating $34M along the way. Sure looks like it!
It would be easy to blame Wentz for pushing for this and for going bad (both on the field and behind the scenes) so quickly. In a perfect world, Wentz would have been OK in 2020 and given the Eagles the option of executing his exit after 2021 (much like the Alex Smith-Colin Kaepernick situation in San Francisco back in the day). But it's not a perfect world, especially with a quarterback that's been pampered.
Wentz may not be a great teammate. He certainly isn't a good quarterback right now. And he's reportedly pushing to get out of Philadelphia, hurting any trade leverage that may have existed. But I don't blame him for most of that. I blame the franchise that watched this player turn into this, did nothing about it, and paid him big-money along the way.
The end of the Eagles-Wentz relationship is an ugly one, and the franchise is to blame for letting it get to this point.
