Philadelphia Eagles: The Carson Wentz era is officially over (move on)

And just like that, it’s over.

While Week 18 is still technically going strong at the time of publication, the playoff picture is all but set, with the Philadelphia Eagles having secured their playoff berth and the Indianapolis Colts having not.

That’s right, after months of “Colts watches” and Twitter sleuths tracking snaps for draft pick considerations, the Eagles have officially secured Indianapolis’ first-round pick, which will fall in the mid-teens when everything is said and done.

And the best part? Fans can finally put the Carson Wentz era of Philadelphia Eagles football behind them and fully move on once and for all.

Carson Wentz’s play no longer holds any bearing on the Philadelphia Eagles.

Normally, when a team trades away a player, it’s essentially over; both sides move on and go about their lives.

Sure, occasionally, one will check in on how their former guy is doing, especially when that player is an all-time fan favorite like Nick Foles, but their actual success – or lack thereof – essentially has no effect on their former club. For example, no one particularly cared how Sam Bradford played with the Minnesota Vikings after he was traded in 2016 because it had no bearing on the Eagles in any way, shape, or form.

The Carson Wentz trade, by design, was different.

Unlike with Bradford, the 2022 draft pick Philly secured from Indianapolis in the Wentz trade was conditional and would only fall in the first round if he played at least 75 percent of the Colts’ offensive snaps in 2021.

For Howie Roseman, the deal made sense. No other team was offering up a first-round pick for Wentz’s services straight up, and assuming Frank Reich rolled with his former quarterback for the entire season, the condition would likely be met. Worst case, the pairing didn’t work out, and the Eagles got a 2021 third-round pick and a 2022 second-round pick for Wentz’s services in addition to cap relief and could move forward with Nick Sirianni, and Jalen Hurts.

Now the Eagles can very much still do that, and with the added bonus of an additional first-round pick to bolster their war chest, no less.

Yes, you read that correctly; no more hate/forlorn-watching of the once and future QB2 to see how he fared with the Colts, no more hoping he plays well enough not to get benched but poorly enough to avoid the shame of trading away an MVP-caliber quarterback, none of it. Outside of those occasional memory lane moments, the next time Eagles fans will have to worry about Wentz’s on-field play will come in 2022, when the Colts and Eagles will face off at Lucas Oil Field, according to FB Schedules.

Until then, all eyes can turn to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who the Birds will face off against in Week 19 for “Super Wildcard Weekend,” as the NFL is calling it.

Some fans will never forgive Howie Roseman for trading Carson Wentz. They loved him both on and off the field and fully felt that one down season was not worth moving on from a legit MVP candidate from only a few seasons back. To some of those folks, no amount of on-field success by Jalen Hurts will be good enough, and they will hate-watch the Philadelphia Eagles in the same way many a fan hate-watched the Indianapolis Colts in 2021. But for the rest of us who fall somewhere between the two extremes, let’s finally move past the Carson Wentz era, as he quite literally has no bearing in the franchise moving forward.