Philly dropped a $128 million bag on a quarterback who hasn’t played a full season since 2017.
Eagles franchise quarterback Carson Wentz has not played a full season since he was a rookie. He hasn’t participated in any of Philly’s exciting playoff runs. So far, all we know about the injury-prone QB from North Dakota State is that he has hella potential and has been a Pro Bowl regular season pigskin slinger.
“(Wentz) is Peyton Manning pre-snap, he’s Aaron Rodgers post-snap,” NFL Media’s Brian Baldinger said on NFL Network back in 2016.
Unfortunately, the world hasn’t seen Wentz on the field enough to agree or disagree with Baldinger. He’s been the most important forgotten man in NFL history the past few seasons.
At one point, Nick Foles was winning playoff games and Philly fans were ready to trade Wentz and commit to 30-year-old Foles.
Foles parlayed his Philly success as Wentz’s valuable backup into a career rebirth. The QB-thirsty Jacksonville Jaguars signed Foles to a four-year, $88 million deal after going 5–11 in 2018, a season removed from reaching the AFC Championship Game.
With Foles gone, the Eagles officially put all of their hopes and dreams on the brittle body of 26-year-old Wentz, signing the 2017 Pro Bowler to a four-year, $128 million contract extension with $107 million guaranteed, keeping him under contract through the 2024 season.
That’s a huge risk to take on a guy who can’t seem to complete a regular season, but Wentz is special, so they have to take that risk.
Every time Wentz hits the ground, Philly Eagles Nation will be holding their collective breath, hoping he gets up.
Is this the kind of existence Philly wants after all this success? They should call in Colin Kaepernick to try out for a backup position.
It would be a great situation for Kaep who — if history is any indication — is sure to get some major snaps over the next few seasons. I know that’s a pipe dream at this point, but it’s worth a mention. This scenario didn’t work out back in 2017.
However, while QBs are steady getting paid and teams are struggling to find viable signal callers, giving Kaep a call now that everything has died down a bit, wouldn’t be a bad idea. He’s another guy who has been to a Super Bowl and can stay healthy.
Wentz got his bag, but he’s going to have to prove that the injuries early in his promising career are just flukes. First, the knee kept him out while Foles won a SuperBowl and became the most beloved guy in Philly. Last year it was a janky back.
ESPN analyst Louis Riddick says the Eagles don’t think injuries will be a problem going forward as long as Wentz scales back on the Superman tactics.
“They believe a lot of Carson’s injuries are self-inflicted and not injury prone because he has a brittle body. They feel he takes some chances with his health that he doesn’t necessarily have to take, a la Andrew Luck, So he thinks he can extend every play and every play can be the home run ball and he doesn’t have to do that…it’s called growth, maturity. “
Durability and intelligence are what made Eli Manning so damn valuable to the Giants for 15 years. He never ever got hurt. Therefore the Giants always had stability from one season to the next.
So far Wentz has looked solid in OTA’s and everything points to him returning to the form he showed in 2017 when he was a front-runner for MVP.
When Foles stole his shine.
I guess Philly feels confident that it’s finally Wentz’s time to start putting in full seasons of work.
“He has an embarrassment of riches at his disposal at tight end, wide receiver and running back,” Riddick added. “If you want to take anything from Nick Foles…get the ball out of your hand fast (into your playmakers’ hands) and let them do the work and take the hits. You’re paid well to be the point guard and the best thing you can do for us is be available.
Throwing a $100 million bag at Wentz won’t help if he can’t stay on the field. This might be the biggest risk in Eagles history and can either set the franchise up for more success or backfire into a financial mess.
