A week before the Commanders sent a pair of draft picks to Indianapolis for quarterback Carson Wentz, The Team 980’s Chris Russell was adamant: This would be a bad move for Washington.
"I would rather have Taylor Heinicke, Garrett Gilbert and/or Kyle Allen, and [an] unnamed rookie. Absolutely. [Rather] than Carson Wentz,” the co-host of Russell & Medhurst said. “That would be the absolute pits. That would be the worst.”
And then, it happened. Does Russell regret saying all of that about Washington's new quarterback?
“I meant every word of it then, and I mean every word of it now,” he said Monday. “And what’s worse, Pete, there was no way on God’s green earth did I think they were ever gonna trade for him and absorb that contract.”
And the contract Washington absorbed, while a doozy for this season ($28.3 million), gives them the option to cut and run without taking a salary cap hit if Wentz totally flops in 2022.
Of course, having said all that about rather playing Heinicke et. al. a week ago, Russell does admit Wentz is better than those other options.
“Carson Wentz is a physical talent upgrade over anything the Washington Commanders have had and you could even argue that he is the most physically gifted quarterback that Washington has had since the 2012, pre-injury, Robert Griffin II,” he said.
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This is obviously an “on-paper” upgrade for Ron Rivera undercenter, but so many questions remain around the new quarterback.
“The question is: How much did they improve? How good of a fit is this going to be? Has everyone been wrong about Carson Wentz – in Philadelphia and, ultimately, in one short season in Indianapolis – and he’s gonna come here as this great misunderstood dude and this tremendous leader and this ‘Go team go!’ type of guy and stay healthy for 17 games?” Russell said. “And lead this team to the playoffs, which they kinda need to do and they kinda need to be in, in order for Ron Rivera to feel good going into year 4, and if it's really bad they may not make year 4.”
Russell believes by adding the forme Colts and Eagles QB Washington has improved in terms of arm talent, experience, height, accuracy, ability to read defenses, and to execute an offense at the line of scrimmage.
However, the compensation of draft capital, money against this year’s cap, trusting Wentz to stay healthy for the entire season, and what is known about Wentz’s locker room attitude makes this a move that looks likely to backfire.
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“All of that, when you put Carson Wentz with all of the questions, all of the problems, all of the issues, all of the worries, all of the concerns here, I worry even more than I already was,” Russell said.
“If you put him in Pittsburgh I think you’ve got a chance, a chance to say ‘OK everything else around you is pretty damn stable,’” he said. “Here? Nothing is stable and it probably never will be regardless of whether it’s Ron Rivera, Mike Shanahan, Jay Gruden, or Santa Claus as the head coach. It doesn’t matter, it's not a stable situation. It never has been [under owner Dan Snyder], it probably never will be.”
Washington is banking on a guy who has been run out of town by two different teams in the last two seasons, Russell added: “And everyone that knew him – everyone that knew him – players [and] coaches had friction and issues and problems and turned their back on him… we don’t know exactly if it’s more the physical part or the mental or the leadership or the character part, but it is probably both.”
There is a lot riding on Rivera and offensive coordinator Scott Turner to save the day and turn Wentz into something who can be a franchise quarterback.
“I think they’re better on paper,” Russell said, “I don’t know if that’s going to work out that way.”
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