Carson Wentz is back in the NFC East, while the Indianapolis Colts’ interminable search for Andrew Luck’s replacement continues.
The Washington Commanders acquired Wentz from the Colts on Wednesday in exchange for a package of draft picks.
The Colts get a 2022 third-round pick and a 2023 third-rounder that can become a second-rounder if Wentz plays 70% of this season’s snaps, a source confirmed. And the teams are swapping second-round picks in 2022.
No current Washington players are going back to the Colts in the trade, which will become official a week from Wednesday at the start of the league year.
This is a desperation move by Washington, which underestimated its need for a top quarterback a year ago and then lost this year’s Russell Wilson sweepstakes to the Denver Broncos on Tuesday.
Colts GM Chris Ballard, meanwhile, is now searching for a fourth starting QB in four years. Indy has stayed afloat but never truly recovered from Luck’s shocking retirement just before his 30th birthday in August 2019.
Jacoby Brissett, Philip Rivers and Wentz have started for the Colts in the subsequent three seasons, respectively. And Ballard doesn’t hold a first-round pick this year because he sent it to the Eagles to acquire Wentz a year ago.
Both Washington and the Colts went to the playoffs in 2020, but Wednesday’s trade was a reminder of how far both remain from where they’re trying to go.
Ron Rivera could be on the hot seat this season if his team doesn’t meet expectations. Last season, Washington declined to offer the Detroit Lions too much for Matthew Stafford and settled instead on Ryan Fitzpatrick, who played only one game.
Taylor Heinicke showed moxie and filled in well for a backup but isn’t the long-term solution or the top-of-market talent Washington has coveted.
This offseason, Rivera and Washington were more aggressive but still failed to land one of the QBs at the top of the market. Aaron Rodgers returned to Green Bay on Tuesday and was never an option for the Commanders.
Washington made a substantial offer to Seattle for Wilson, sources said, but the Seahawks didn’t want to trade him in the NFC, and it sounds like Wilson wasn’t going to waive his no-trade clause to go there, either.
The Houston Texans’ Deshaun Watson might resolve his 22 sexual assault lawsuits and become available this offseason, too, but Washington is embroiled in sexual harassment litigation of its own, with owner Daniel Snyder on double secret probation.
So Watson to Washington never could have happened.
Washington holds the No. 11 overall pick in April’s draft and was thought to be in the market to draft a quarterback. And Rivera still could take one there. But trading for Wentz seems like an indictment of both the 2022 draft and free agency classes.
Wentz, 29, the Philadelphia Eagles’ No. 2 overall pick in 2016, returns to face his former team at least twice a year. He lasted only one year with the Colts.
He has been traded in March for the second straight year. Philly dealt him to Indy in March 2021 for a first and third-round pick. The first was a conditional two that rose to a one based on playing time, similar to the conditional 2023 third included by Washington to the Colts this time.
Colts coach Frank Reich was coaching around Wentz’s limitations often on offense. Wentz lost five fumbles, tied for second most in the league.
And the same issues of poor leadership and accountability that had plagued Wentz in Philadelphia reared their heads in the Midwest.
On Wednesday, in fact, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported on the specifics of Wentz’s selfishness in 2017, when Philly won the Super Bowl.
While out with a torn ACL as Nick Foles led the team deep into the playoffs, Wentz complained about the Eagles’ success to other injured teammates, per the Inquirer. One of them confronted Wentz and the two “had to be separated.”
Wentz had played to an MVP level prior to his 2017 torn ACL, but after that ball security issues and sloppiness and freelancing plagued him and undercut the Eagles’ offensive efforts.
His return to Lincoln Financial Field this fall undoubtedly will be scheduled for prime time as must-see TV.
Wednesday’s trade means that at this moment, the NFC East’s starting quarterbacks are the Dallas Cowboys’ Dak Prescott, the Eagles’ Jalen Hurts, the Giants’ Daniel Jones and Washington’s Wentz.
Jones has a 4-1-0 head-to-head record against Washington and has a good chance to improve that record with Wentz as the division rival’s starter.
Assuming new defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale dials up his signature pressures and the Giants add some pass rushers, Wentz promises to put the ball up for grabs or on the deck.
