PHILADELPHIA — In their first smart decision in perhaps a decade, the Commanders on Monday released Carson Wentz. The move was expected, but it resonated throughout the NFL world nevertheless.
The Fall of Wentz has been Shakespearean. Given wealth and power, his fatal flaws — stubbornness and frailty — have made him untouchable.
Macbeth mac Findlaech has nothing on Ginger Jesus.
Wentz can be still saved.
Randall Cunningham didn’t study the playbook at the end of his first act. Michael Vick, a similar freewheeler, became a felon at the end of his first act. Vick was 30. Wentz is 30. Wentz is far more salvageable than either of them. He was a better young quarterback than either of them.
This time three years ago Wentz, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2016 draft, was preparing to enter his fifth season, having led the Eagles to three consecutive playoff berths despite dividing the locker room. He would soon sign a $128 million contract extension. Then the Eagles drafted Jalen Hurts in the second round of the 2020 draft. Wentz played horribly, melted down, and forced a trade to Indianapolis, where he was an even worse teammate, so they traded him to Washington, where he managed to make even the league’s most detestable franchise less appealing.
Now, he’s jobless.
This, according to two people who know him well, is how he should remain for a while. He should take a year off. Let his body heal. Find out how to be inclusive, and coachable, and relaxed. Find a quarterbacks coach. Find a sports psychologist. Find a regular psychologist. Hell, go drink hallucinogenic tea and spend four days in a blackout hut.
Whatever it takes to rediscover the Carson Wentz of 2017 — Carson Wentz, 1.0 — do it.
Wentz’s release has been imminent for weeks. At Super Bowl LVII, I ran into several people who know him; former teammates, former coaches, friends of friends. I asked some of them if they thought Wentz would benefit from some time away. Two said yes.
Think about it.
It would be the greatest resurrection since actual Jesus.
The thing is, they said, Carson James Wentz still loves football. What he does not love, we agreed, is having to be Carson James Wentz.
Then again, who would?
Fall from grace
Wentz has gone from MVP favorite to befuddling bust in dizzying style. He’s done so like Ryan Leaf and JaMarcus Russell, big names with big talent bedeviled by big problems. Socially awkward and always ill at ease, Wentz hid his crippling insecurity and chronic arrogance behind a shield of Christianity and good nature. Sometimes it was hard to tell which was less sincere.
His path away from the Eagles is littered with former beloved Eagles.
Colts coach Frank Reich, Wentz’s offensive coordinator in 2016 and 2017, vouched for Wentz to owner Robert Irsay in 2021. Wentz repaid Reich by refusing to get vaccinated, contracted the coronavirus with two games to play in the season, then, fresh off COVID sickness and needing one win against two poor teams, played horribly in those two losses.
Irsay sent Wentz to the Commanders, who are coached by former Eagles assistant Ron Rivera. It was Rivera’s idea. When questioned in October about whether he’d wanted Wentz on his team, Rivera expressed his devotion: “I’m the [expletive] guy that pulled out the sheets of paper, that looked at the analytics, that watched the tape when we were in Indianapolis.”
They should keep Rivera away from the tape. Wentz went 2-6, missed eight games with an injury (of course), and was benched for the season finale. The Commanders would have owed him about $26 million this season. They’ve opted for Sam Howell, who declared early for the 2022 draft, dropped to the fifth round, and played one game in 2022. But he’ll make just $870,000.
That’s $870,000 more than Wentz should make. By choice.
No team can consider starting him right now. He still has the arm of a god, but the confidence of a squib. He’s a far worse quarterback now than he was as a rookie.
His ego won’t let him accept the role of a backup, nor should he. The only way Wentz should ever throw a football again on an NFL field is as a reformed leader of a solid football team.
It could happen. It’s happened before. Philly has witnessed it.
Philadelphia precedent
The Eagles cut Cunningham after the 1995 season. He was 33. Humiliated and unprofessional as Rodney Peete’s backup, Cunningham refused offers to spend another season holding a clipboard, and, in 1996, he retired, but only for that season.
The “Ultimate Weapon” signed a one-year deal in 1997 to be Brad Johnson’s backup with the Vikings, then played well as an injury replacement late in the season. Cunningham returned as a backup in 1998, started 14 games, and finished second in the MVP voting for the third time. Paired with Randy Moss, Cunningham’s 106.0 passer rating led the league and was his best by almost 15 points. They came within a field goal of reaching the Super Bowl.
Cunningham was 35 when he finally rounded into form. His return was a coda.
Vick had an entire second act.
Early in his career Vick was the most popular player on the planet, the embodiment of his own video game character: an unparalleled runner with a laser arm who, like a young Cunningham, had absolutely no idea what he was doing. Then he missed 2007 and 2008 after going to prison on charges related to running a dogfighting ring. Andy Reid and the Eagles signed him in 2009 to back up Donovan McNabb.
Vick, a model citizen and suddenly a ravenous pupil, became the starter in 2010. He went to the Pro Bowl with a 100.2 passer rating, the highest of his career. He lasted five more seasons in the NFL.
Wentz can have that, and much more. He has a whole second football life ahead of him.
He just needs a little time away from football.
