Carson Wentz was introduced as the Washington Commanders' quarterback last week, and he showed up to the press conference wearing a gold jacket and burgundy button-down shirt. The traditional colors of a team that's now operating under a new nickname and logo.
Washington agreed to send two third-round picks to the Indianapolis Colts in exchange for the 29-year-old quarterback, just two weeks ago. In addition to the pick swaps, they're taking on his entire $28 million salary for next season, and a 2023 third-round pick sent to the Colts can become a second if Wentz plays 70-percent of their snaps. The Commanders searched high and low for a new signal-caller this offseason, and settled on Wentz.
"If you're the Commanders, I think you already regret trading for Wentz. There was no need to have urgency, to rush to get this deal done, and give up what you did," Zach Gelb said during The Zach Gelb Show on Tuesday. "You could have gotten better quarterback play in three different areas and given up less. Would've given up less to get Jimmy G, Matt Ryan, or Baker Mayfield. And all would've been better quarterbacks than Wentz.
"This move to get Wentz, before it even starts, is a failure. Just based off the principle that Baker, Matt Ryan, and Jimmy G are available, and you wouldn't have had to give up as much as you did to acquire Wentz -- who isn't a good quarterback anymore... The fact they wanted Wentz and basically begged the Colts and aggressively pursued him, that makes no sense to me. And all they had to do was be patient... This was such a bad process..."
In his lone season with Indianapolis, Wentz played a career-high 17 games and threw for 3,563 yards with 27 touchdowns and seven interceptions. But these stats couldn't shroud his mediocre play for most of the year. With an AFC wild-card berth on the line in Week 18, Wentz threw for just 185 yards with a career-low 4.4 QBR in an upset loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. The ghastly showing eliminated the Colts from playoff contention.
According to an ESPN report, the Commanders offered the Seattle Seahawks multiple first-round picks for veteran quarterback Russell Wilson. Negotiations went nowhere, however, and Seattle ultimately dealt the nine-time Pro Bowler to the Denver Broncos instead. Washington is scheduled to face Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium during the 2022 campaign.
Gelb's complete thoughts on the Commanders' acquisition of Wentz can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow The Zach Gelb Show on Twitter @ZachGelb and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.