Philadelphia Eagles: The Carson Wentz trade keeps paying dividends

Who won the Carson Wentz trade between the Indianapolis Colts and the Philadelphia Eagles?

Now I know this is a bit of a testy subject, both to fans of the player and fans in “The Hoosier State,” but hey, when you consider Wentz isn’t even a member of the Colts anymore and was traded to the Washington Commanders for a much smaller package – flipping a 2022 second-round pick and a 2022 seventh-round pick to Dan Snyder’s club for a 2022 second-round pick, a 2022 third-round pick and a conditional 2023 third-round pick – it’s pretty clear the Eagles sold high on a player they wanted gone.

And on the first Monday in April, the Eagles’ return for Wentz ballooned up even more, as Howie Roseman traded the 2022 first-round pick originally belonging to the Colts – plus their own first-round pick and a sixth-round pick also acquired from Indianapolis for Matt Pryor – for not one, not two, but five draft picks from the New Orleans Saints, two firsts, a second, a third, and a seventh.

Factor in the Indianapolis third-round pick the team parlayed along with 12 to move up and draft DeVonta Smith in 2022, and the Philadelphia Eagles’ decision to trade Carson Wentz has all of the makings of a foundational deal capable of setting up the next great era of football in the City of Brotherly Love.

The Philadelphia Eagles secured serious value in a highly choreographed trade.

If we’re being honest, the Philadelphia Eagles were never going to draft three players in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft.

Sure, it was certainly fun to hypothesize about landing three of the top-20 players in this year’s class and first-round only mock drafts became the thing to write and read in the Delaware Valley, but the prospects of paying three players signed to such high profile picks would be tricky, to say the least. Factor in the team’s uncertain future at the quarterback position, with 2022 set to become the year for Jalen Hurts to either sink and swim, and the prospects of cashing in such an expansive war chest of talent, including five picks in the top-100, felt rather unlikely, to put it mildly.

Now, instead of having five picks in the top-100, they have five picks in the top-101 and added an additional 2023 first-round pick – in what should be a “better” quarterback class – and a 2024 second-round pick which could either be used to further fill out the roster with good, cheap talent or be traded again for a premium asset.

But hey, don’t take my word for it; let’s see what the good ole’ draft value chart has to say about the Eagles’ new deal – via Shane Haff of The Painted Line – and see how the value the team surrendered compares to the value they brought back.

Alright, alright, alright, so the Eagles surrendered 1,887 in value versus 3,177 by the Saints; not too shabby at all.

Granted, there is a bit of conjecture in Haff’s valuations, as we don’t know exactly what the 2023 and 2024 draft picks will be worth until the next of the next two seasons. The first overall pick has a value of 3,000 versus just 590 for the 32nd, and second-round picks can range from 580 to 270 depending on where it falls. If the Saints somehow win the Super Bowl this fall and then win it again in 2023, the value of the Eagles’ total return will only be 1,857, which is the equivalent of a late fifth-round pick on the draft value chart, but do you know what? Even if the Saints just finish the 2022 season with a loss in the NFC championship game or the 2023 season with a divisional-round loss, the Eagles will make back those 30 points in value and inch closer and closer to a positive return.

*psst* between you and me, I don’t really see the Saints making it to the playoffs in 2022, but hey, you never really know.

There’s an old saying in the NFL that if a team doesn’t have a quarterback, they don’t have nothing. While the stars will occasionally align and a Cinderella run will see a quarterback like Trent Dilfer win it all, having a top-tier field general has remained the formula for NFL success for as long as the Lombardi Trophy has been around. Do the Philadelphia Eagles have a quarterback of that caliber? Only time will tell, but if they don’t, Howie Roseman just secured some additional assets to procure one in 2023. And if they do? Well, they have even more ammo to build around Jalen Hurts over the final years of his rookie contract. A win-win if I’ve ever seen one.