On June 6th, 2019, the Philadelphia Eagles followed through on their decision to hand the leadership of the team over to Carson Wentz, giving him a 4 year $128m extension. It has only been 6 years since that day, but it feels like just a bad dream at this point. The mental gymnastics we all went through in the years leading up to that decision and the years since are Olympic level.
It’s strange to go back into the memory banks now, almost like thinking of a previous relationship before you met your husband/wife, but do you remember when we drafted Wentz? The story around the 2016 NFL Draft is a BONKERS tale of Howie Roseman either getting incredibly lucky or executing a supervillain level masterplan as his first order of business post-exile. On March 9, 2016 the Eagles traded Kiko Alonso, Byron Maxwell, and #13 to the Dolphins for #8. The next day Sam Bradford signs a 2/$36m contract extension! WTF? A month later and a week before the Draft, the Eagles traded their new #8 pick along with a 3rd, 4th, 2017 1st, and a 2018 2nd to the Browns for #2 overall and the right to pick Carson Wentz. After reports that Wentz is crushing it in camp and Teddy Bridgewater is injured in Minnesota, the Vikings ante up a 2017 1st and 2018 4th for Sam Bradford. Wow.
The story from here is almost biblical at this point. Wentz impresses as a rookie and ascends in his second year. He is leading the MVP race for a 1-loss Eagles team that looks like our best chance to win a Super Bowl in our lifetimes. Then he gets hurt against the Rams in Week 14, just devastating the fanbase. The dream was dead…until it wasn’t. Nick Foles came in and despite looking a little shaky at first gave two of the greatest QB performances ever in the Conference Championship and the Super Bowl and brought home the franchise’s first title. Wentz had to watch from the bench while Foles is crowned King of the city.
What do you do at this point if you are the Eagles? That summer is one of the better unsung What Ifs in team history. Even though Wentz was hurt, they could have traded him for 2 or 3 first round picks at that point as a 26-year-old QB still on a rookie contract, turning the franchise back over to the hero Foles. They didn’t. Wentz looked rusty but fine the next year but is again injured and replaced by Foles who nearly orchestrates another playoff run (Alshon dropped that pass over the middle). That off season, Foles was allowed to leave (signing with the Jaguars) and the Eagles signed Wentz to his extension.
The extension made Wentz one of the highest paid players in football and, frankly, it seemed like a good idea. Getting ahead of the market is usually good business, just ask the Cowboys what happens if you don’t. Early dividends were solid. Wentz threw 27 TDs to only 7 picks that year and led the team to the playoffs at 9-7. After 4 offensive plays against the Seahawks, Jadaveon Clowney hit him dirty and knocked him out of the game. He would never be the same.
The 2020 Draft would change the team forever. With the 53rd pick, the Eagles selected Jalen Hurts. Wentz had ended the last 3 years injured and Nick Foles wouldn’t be walking through that door anymore; the Eagles needed a competent backup. There were two big problems with that: (1) no one told Jalen he was supposed to be a back up and (2) Wentz must have had some lingering trauma from Nick Foles winning a Super Bowl. Despite his contract extension not even officially starting yet, he was shook. Carson looked bad and Jalen looked confident. In the 12th game of the season, Wentz is benched for good. The Jalen Hurts era had begun. The rest is history.
Needless to say, Wentz was going to be traded. Despite the poor performance and total lack of leverage, Howie Roseman still nets a 2022 1st and 2021 3rd from the Colts. This eventually turns into Jalen Carter. If you want to get nuts, below is Zach Zeaman’s FULL Carson Wentz trade tree (make popcorn first). I still plan on framing this at some point.
In the aftermath of the trade, Carson Wentz completely fell apart. He bombed out of Indy and was eventually terrible in Washington. He later signed as a backup for the Rams and got to watch the Chiefs get their asses whooped by the Eagles in this past Super Bowl. He is 47-46-1 as a starter in the NFL but has no chance of ever getting regular time as a leading man again. It has only been 9 years, but Carson has already lived 3 distinct careers.
So, what do we even make of this? Hindsight says we relive the Wentz era exactly the same way. We now have two Super Bowl rings and the best roster in football. Everyone loves the Super Bowl MVP and Jalen Carter is a good bet to be DPOY this year. Would you rather we had stayed with Sam Bradford? Do we win that first Super Bowl without him? Do we win it with him??? How about trading Wentz and sticking with Foles? Should we have given Wentz the extension? Would things have turned out the same if we hadn’t? Maybe he plays with a chip on his shoulder like Drew Brees with the Chargers instead of completely cratering? Who knows. Just a crazy set of circumstances that worked out perfectly in the end.
Philly Front Office 
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