No matter what, the Philadelphia Eagles lost the Carson Wentz trade

Way back in 2016, Howie Roseman and the Philadelphia Eagles gave up quite a bit to acquire Carson Wentz.

And for good reason.

After years and years of navigating throughout the NFL without a “franchise quarterback” post Donovan McNabb, the Eagles decided to go all-in on somebody who they viewed as a bit of a savior figure. By trading up twice; giving up a whole plethora of draft-related assets, the Eagles landed themselves a big-armed gunslinger to finally crown as QB1.

There were questions regarding who was better between him and Jared Goff, or if Wentz would ultimately sit behind Sam Bradford for a full season. However, all of those questions proved to be quite irrelevant by the time the regular season rolled around. Paired up with a first-year head coach in Doug Pederson and an offensive mastermind in Frank Reich, it was clear that #11 was going to be the Eagles quarterback for a very long time.

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2017 was a magical year for a whole bunch of reasons, but ultimately speaking it was Carson Wentz’ stellar play that highlighted the team’s regular season dominance. Wentz set the all-time franchise record for touchdown passes thrown in a single season (33) despite only playing in 13 games. Had his ACL injury never occurred, he would’ve coasted to the league’s MVP award, becoming the first Eagle to do it since Randall Cunningham way back in 1990.

While 2018 and 2019 were down years compared to the glory that was 2017, Carson Wentz still remained a beacon of hope to an organization that had been meddling in QB mediocrity for a majority of the 2010s. Wentz’ 2018 passer rating of 102.2 ranks as the third best by an Eagles quarterback in team history, and his 2019 passer rating (93.1) ranks as the 8th best.

Wentz broke the team’s all-time single season passing record with 4,039 yards in 2019, becoming the first Eagles QB to ever surpass the 4,000 yard mark.

Despite playing just 68 games in Philadelphia, Wentz heads off to Indianapolis as the franchise’s leader in career passer rating, completion percentage, and TD/INT ratio. His 113 passing touchdowns and 16,811 passing yards both rank fourth in franchise history. Had he played the next 5+ seasons as the Eagles starting QB, he would’ve likely smashed through every Eagles passing record possible.

However, none of this really matters anymore.

Howie Roseman chose to trade Wentz to the Colts on Wednesday, ending what was ultimately a pretty disastrous 2020 season for everyone involved. Things between Wentz and the Eagles were clearly fractured to a point of no returning, leaving Roseman with little choice outside of taking on the largest dead cap hit in league history via the trade away.

The Philadelphia Eagles are the only losers in the Wentz-to-Indy trade

While some people have been quick to point out that escaping Wentz’ lofty contract while simultaneously acquiring draft picks could end up being good business, the simple truth is that there’s only one big loser in all of this.

The Philadelphia Eagles.

Unlike most NFL teams, the Eagles – as an organization – simply couldn’t find a way to build around the franchise arm that they so aggressively acquired. Despite drafting him second overall and paying him $100+ million, the organization failed at every single turn when it came to appropriately constructing a football team around him.

Whether it was with bad receivers, poor protection, or constant controversy induced by the likes of “anonymous sources” or the drafting of Jalen Hurts, the Eagles ran Wentz out of a town – a player who was supposed to be the greatest QB in team history.

The minimal draft picks that the Eagles got in return could end up translating into decent players, and Jalen Hurts might have himself a good sophomore season in 2021, but none of it particularly matters in the grand scheme of things. This type of divorce simply doesn’t happen around the NFL.

The routine best teams in the NFL – the Saints, Steelers, Packers, Ravens, Seahawks, etc. – all didn’t bail on their franchise QBs five years into the fray.

Ultimately speaking, I envision Carson Wentz bouncing back in Indianapolis, while the Philadelphia Eagles struggle to justify what will go down as one of the low points in franchise history. Cap space and draft picks aside for the moment, trading away a quarterback who set a franchise record just one year prior should never be viewed as anything other than a monumental disaster.