Carson Wentz is officially a member of the Indianapolis Colts.
The trade that sent a third-round pick and a conditional 2022 second-rounder to the Philadelphia Eagles has finally been consummated on the first day of the new league year.
The Wentz trade is a sign that general manager Chris Ballard is betting on the notion that the QB’s hideous 2020 season was the product of poor infrastructure around him.
When Colts head coach Frank Reich was his OC in Philadelphia, Wentz was playing like an MVP candidate.
However, Wentz did not leave Philadelphia on the best of terms, as a 4-11-1 season that got head coach Doug Pederson fired was preceded by reports that Wentz could be a bit prickly in the locker room. Now, rather than let him open up about what happened in Philadelphia, the Colts are trying to shield him.
Wentz will be introduced formally at a Zoom conference on Thursday, but the Colts will not take questions from the Philadelphia media, who are likely looking for answers as to what led to his departure.
So the Carson Wentz trade is official. I'm told the Colts are doing a Zoom news conference with Wentz on Thursday, BUT they won't be taking questions from Philly media.
— Les Bowen (@LesBowen) March 17, 2021
New Colts QB Carson Wentz is trying to leave Philly behind.
When Wentz signed a contract that forced the Eagles to, eventually, take on the most dead money from a single transaction in NFL history, it was done so with the expectation that he’d keep the Eagles in the championship hunt.
Unfortunately, due to a confluence of circumstances that weren’t entirely his fault, the Eagles were pitiful last year. The offensive schemes made no sense, the offensive line was in tatters for most of the year, Wentz was hideously inaccurate and throwing to a bunch of tomato cans at wide receiver.
While Wentz was thrown to the wolves, to an extent, last season, there are questions in both Indianapolis and Philadelphia about his viability as the starter with the Colts. Trying to shield him from criticism or tough questioning, which could exceed what he endured in Philadelphia if he underperforms this season, is not going to be very productive for the start of this new relationship.
There’s a difference between supporting your quarterback in the face of pressure and coddling him to try and make sure that he doesn’t feel the sting of any sort of negative press, and the Colts are currently doing the latter. Wentz went from golden boy to pariah last year, and helping him tune everything out could come back to bite Indy if he disappoints in 2021.