Yahoo Finance Reports say nobody but Colts made a trade offer to Eagles for QB Carson Wentz
A poor 2020 season or not, it was a bit surprising that Carson Wentz didn't fetch more in a trade.
The Indianapolis Colts gave a 2021 third-round pick and a 2022 conditional second-round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles for Wentz. It's understandable why there was a discount after Wentz struggled in 2020 and the Eagles wanted to end the relationship while getting rid of a huge contract in the process. But the Eagles' trade leverage should have come from the multiple teams who need a quarterback and have to take a shot on a reclamation project. A bidding war between two or more teams should have driven up the price.
But multiple reports said there was no second team that made an offer for Wentz. Just the Colts.
Carson Wentz didn't draw a big offer
Teams that ask around about a trade for a player or to hire a coach and come up short have good reason to leak to the media that they never made an offer. There is damage control that needs to be done if a team makes an offer but that player or coach ends up elsewhere.
The Chicago Bears have reason to get the word out that no official offer was made. But The MMQB's Albert Breer said the Bears never made an offer for Wentz, and ESPN's Adam Schefter said he didn't believe the Eagles ever got a second offer. Breer said the Bears did their homework but never made an offer. Schefter said the Colts' final offer was in place for perhaps two weeks.
"The delay was the Eagles waiting to see whether any other teams were going to jump in, whether any other teams were gonna make an offer, whether any other teams were going to offer more," Schefter said on 97.5 The Fanatic. "And the reality is, I don’t think anybody else besides Indianapolis made an offer."
That is a bit odd. The Bears have an unsettled quarterback situation and coach Matt Nagy and GM Ryan Pace are certainly on the hot seat. But multiple reports say even they weren't moved to make an offer for Wentz, who was great in 2017 and good in 2018 and 2019. No other team did either, that we know about.
That speaks to how far Wentz's reputation has fallen.
Wentz, Eagles were on the outs
There was the rather surprising story that Wentz and fired Eagles coach Doug Pederson hadn't spoken to each other in months. The fact that the Eagles were willing to trade Wentz and take on a dead cap hit of more than $33 million, easily breaking the NFL record, is a red flag that the Eagles wanted Wentz gone at any cost. It's not like what they got back in a trade was all that much for a quarterback who was once the second pick of the draft and tracking to be an MVP in 2017 before tearing his ACL.
Whatever was happening behind the scenes, the relationship was broken beyond repair. That, and the tape of Wentz making way too many mistakes last season obviously scared some teams off.
Wentz ended up with the Colts, which seems like a great fit. In the end, it might have been the only option the Eagles had.
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