Philadelphia Eagles: The Russell Wilson chatter can finally end

Welp, it’s official: Russell Wilson is officially not a member of the Philadelphia Eagles and probably never will be.

That’s right, on a day where Mike Williams, Chris Godwin, and Davante Adams all came off of the free agency boards via the franchise tag, the shining star of the Emerald City has officially accepted a trade to Denver, with the Broncos sending back two first round picks, two second round picks, a fifth round pick, Drew Lock, Noah Fant, and Shelby Harris.

Now I know what you’re probably thinking; the Eagles could have beat that package. Sure, shipping Wilson – plus a fourth round pick – for two young players, a solid starter, two firsts, two seconds, and a fifth is nice, but recall if you will that the Eagles have three first round picks in the 2022 NFL Draft. Couldn’t they have swooped in and given Seattle two firsts this year, another one next year, and some combination of players like, say, Jalen Hurts, Miles Sanders, and Isaac Seumalo?

Theoretically, the Eagles totally could have offered a package just like that. In a fortunate twist of fate, Howie Roseman has amassed one of the deepest war chests in the NFL and could outbid almost anyone in a deal that isn’t player-specific. But in this case, he didn’t, and whether you liked, loved, or loathed the idea of such a trade, it’s better to move on one way or another.

The Philadelphia Eagles clearly have a plan at quarterback in 2022.

There’s an old football adage often attributed to John Madden that goes a little something like this: If you have two quarterbacks you have none. The theory goes as such, in the NFL, you really need to have “The Guy,” and if a team had two “guys,” then they don’t have “The Guy.”

… yeah, that makes sense, right?

In 2021, the most obvious example of a quarterback-by-committee team was the now-Washington Commanders. Over the past two seasons, they’ve had six different quarterbacks start at least one game, and while Taylor Heinicke emerged as Ron Rivera’s top-dog in 2021, there’s a reason Washington was in the conversation for Russell Wilson for so darn long.

Is Jalen Hurts “The guy” for the Philadelphia Eagles? Long-term, we will have to see. For all of the noise on both polar extremes of the Hurts approval chart, the second-year starter is still a good ways away from his ceiling as an NFL quarterback and may never rise to the level of elite starting quarterback long-term.

Assuming nothing massive happens over the next few weeks – and by massive, I mean a trade for Deshaun Watson or Derek Carr – it would appear the Eagles are going to use the 2022 season to test that ceiling with a better supporting cast and a second season under Nick Sirianni.

Is that the right decision? Considering the holes around the rest of the Eagles’ roster, yes, yes it probably is. Assuming the Eagles traded for Wilson and had to give up three first round picks and three more starters to get a deal done, the team wouldn’t have even had the best roster in the NFC East, let alone the NFC as a whole.

Does the team with the best roster always represent their conference in the Super Bowl? No, not necessarily, but you seldom see a below-average team luck their way into a postseason berth, let alone a championship parade.

Now granted, even if Howie Roseman both uses all three of his first round picks in 2022 on blue chip players and all three immediately make an impact as rookies, the Eagles still wouldn’t be better than the Dallas Cowboys right away and would likely find themselves home by mid-January for the second-straight season. The argument could be made that a quarterback like Wilson, even at 34, is more valuable than three first round picks, and thus Roseman made a judgment error in valuing quality over quantity.

If you feel that way, you are 100 percent valid in your evaluation, but do recall that Wilson had to approve any trade he was included in, and time after time, it was reported that he had no interest in playing for an East Coast team. Even if Roseman pushed all of his chips to the center of the table – which, for all we know, may have happened – his offer could have been rejected by Wilson right then and there with no potential to counter with even more assets.

*sigh* it is what it is.

If the Philadelphia Eagles win a Super Bowl in 2022, it’ll be a miracle. After shocking the world in 2021 to become the most surprising playoff team in the NFL, Nick Sirianni’s squad needs to prove their success from late October through December wasn’t a fluke and that he can build a consistent contender with a better creation of talent. With one more year behind the wheel, this season should tell fans once and for all whether or not Jalen Hurts is the guy… or Howie Roseman could just go out and draft Kenny Pickett 15th overall and throw everything back into wack; at this point, one can never really know.