Colts: Mel Kiper Jr. ripping Eagles for trading Carson Wentz is gold

The Indianapolis Colts were on the receiving end of some scathing criticism after they decided to go all-in on Carson Wentz despite his putrid 2020 campaign.

While there’s an argument to be made whether Wentz is the long-term answer under center, can you really disapprove of the Colts acquiring a supremely-talented quarterback, who was also the coaching staff and front office’s top choice among a slew of other viable options?

Not only that, but Indy didn’t give up the farm to land Wentz. All it took was a 2021 third-round pick and a conditional second-rounder in 2022 to poach him from Philadelphia. Frank Reich was even quoted saying that the Colts were planning to draft a QB before Wentz “fell into our laps.”

If you somehow need more evidence that this trade was an absolute steal for Indy, ESPN draft expert Mel Kiper Jr., who’s been very consistent in criticizing the Eagles for giving up on Wentz, reiterated his thoughts on the deal in a fiery rant on Tuesday’s edition of “Get Up!”

https://twitter.com/getupespn/status/1374425778868264972?s=21

Colts fans will love ESPN draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. eviscerating the Eagles for trading Carson Wentz.

This diatribe was chock-full of memorable zingers, but this portion was easily the standout and should have the Eagles second-guessing themselves.

"“The injuries were catastrophic,” Kiper proclaimed. “(Not all teams) have catastrophic injuries to offensive linemen before the season even begins — receivers, tight ends, running back — and we’re gonna blame the quarterback and send him packing for virtually nothing? This was, again, one of the most ridiculously stupid moves probably in the history of the NFL.”"

You generally only see Kiper this fired up when he’s waxing poetic about a steal on draft night, so the fact that he was this enraged speaks volumes to how much the Eagles screwed up. Despite almost losing his composure, however, the veteran draft analyst made some salient points.

For starters, the Eagles pinning all of the blame on Wentz for their offensive ineptitude in 2020 is pretty delusional when you consider they, thanks to a slew of injuries, had a revolving door at both offensive line and wide receiver. Any quarterback would struggle under those circumstances.

Wentz was no different, and Philly, for reasons we’re still struggling to come to grips with, thought 12 games of lackluster play was enough to justify completely pulling the plug on him.

Throw in the fact that they did so to (presumably) appoint 2020 second-rounder Jalen Hurts (who went 1-3 after he took over for Wentz) as the starter moving forward, and the decision to unload the former No. 2 overall pick looks even worse for the Eagles.

There’s a reason Philadelphia was reportedly disgruntled with the haul (or lack thereof) they received in return for Wentz, folks. It’s like Kiper said: if Wentz turns out to be a success with the Colts, this will go down as one of the most boneheaded trades in recent memory.

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