The Eagles organization is rallying around benched quarterback Carson Wentz, multiple sources said, and remain hopeful that the one-time MVP candidate can get back to playing at a high level of football by next season. However, that will not quell the chatter among other front office's about the quarterback's future in Philadelphia.
Jalen Hurts, selected in the second round in the spring, will make his first NFL start Sunday against the vaunted Saints, marking a full departure from how anyone in the Eagles front office thought this season would go. Wentz has been one of the worst regular starting quarterbacks in the NFL this season, looking lost at times, holding the ball too long, trying to do too much, and failing to complete even high-percentage passes with regularity.
Wentz is barely into a then-record contract extension he signed with the Eagles, as he burst on the scene as a rookie and was considered by many the leading candidate for the MVP award in 2017 prior to tearing his ACL late in that season, with the Eagles going on to win the Super Bowl with back-up Nick Foles. With Foles gone, Wentz continued to play at a very high level, though injuries remained a bugaboo.
This season he has failed to get back close to even his 2019 level, with coach Doug Pederson going to Hurts extensively in the second half last week and then naming him the starter for Week 14. That quarterback change has full support in the upper reaches of the organization, sources said, with the hope that Hurts can provide a spark and perhaps unlock more big plays with his legs and arm.
But that does not mean the Eagles have given up on Wentz as a part of their future, sources said, and they remain committed to helping him get back to form whether it be this season or next. Wentz has maintained his positive attitude and great work ethic despite the demotion, I'm told, and will be a sounding board for Hurts as Foles once was for him.
Regardless, other general managers in the market for a new quarterback in 2021 have already started to do some work on Wentz and he will be studied by other teams as a potential option. The Eagles have a reputation for being an aggressive team on the trade front and very creative as well, and even with a $10M roster bonus looming for Wentz in March, a trade is still feasible.
Owner Jeffrey Lurie had just paid Sam Bradford a huge bonus before trading him to the Vikings, and other executives expect the Colts to inquire about Wentz this offseason, particularly if Hurts displays an ability to potentially keep the job. Indianapolis does not have a QB signed beyond this season and bringing Philip Rivers back is far from a certainty. They'd prefer to have a long-term option in place and Wentz was at his very best when Colts coach Frank Reich was helping run the Eagles offense.
Reich had strong personal ties to Rivers -- who they signed as a free agent -- and Colts GM Chris Ballard is also progressive on the trade front (dealing for DeForest Buckner last year as an example). A new team could effectively rent Wentz for two years at around $48M if the Eagles paid out his bonus -- manageable if not ideal -- and though the QB market is likely to be flooded again in 2021, a trade scenario is hardly impossible to conjure.
The Eagles are solely focused on getting the best out of Wentz, but things could get complicated in a long offseason, and the prospect of carrying a $30M back-up QB for any sustained period of time is difficult to fathom, especially with the Eagles' cap situation. Wentz's future will remain one of the more talked about topics in league circles in the meantime, with this one of the more unusual circumstances to arise in a strange 2020 season.
