Though he desperately wanted to flourish with the franchise, it’s been many years since it seemed like Carson Wentz was going to be the long-term quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles.
While Wentz’s tenure started out promising, you kind of got the feeling he was destined to finish his career elsewhere after Nick Foles led the team to its first-ever world championship over Tom Brady and the New England Patriots back in 2017.
From there, it was all downhill for Wentz. From suffering various nagging injuries and failing to replicate the MVP form he showcased in 2017, he quickly lost the love of Eagles fans.
To cap it all off, the Eagles used a second-round pick on Jalen Hurts last year. That clearly did a number on Wentz’s confidence, and former head coach Doug Pederson finally addressed the decision to draft the former college superstar during an interview with SiriusXM NFL Radio.
As expected, Pederson has revisionist history on how it all went down. Either that, or things were done extremely foolishly.
https://twitter.com/theScore/status/1413216565915312129
Doug Pederson opened up about Colts QB Carson Wentz’s final year with the Eagles.
"“You go into drafts and you go into each year looking for quarterbacks,” Pederson said. “And we continued to look for quarterbacks, and that’s always something that will never change. We won a Super Bowl with our backup quarterback. And we’ve had to play with our backups a couple of times in Philadelphia.“So we did that a year ago and brought in Jalen Hurts. Not to undermine Carson Wentz, not to do anything to take away his job or anything because Carson was definitely our starter. He was the franchise and all that moving forward. But someone that could come in and could be the backup and learn how to play the NFL game. . .”"
It’s pretty obvious that Wentz himself contributed to his demise with the Eagles, but Pederson acting like the decision to draft Hurts didn’t undermine the now-Colts quarterback is laughable. It just seems like Pederson’s trying to bury the hatchet with Wentz without actually saying it.
As for the Eagles’ philosophy of looking for a QB every year in the draft, remind us how many teams in the league have a second-rounder backing up a fairly recent No. 2 overall pick? Let’s not forget that Hurts gained steam leading up to draft night as a potential starter down the road. This wasn’t your typical fourth or fifth-round prospect that clearly peaked in college.
How else was Wentz, who wasn’t informed the Eagles were even considering drafting a quarterback, supposed to feel? Could the 28-year-old have been more thick-skinned and embraced the challenge of fighting for his job? Sure, but that doesn’t take Pederson and the Eagles off the hook for their mishandling of the situation.
Doug Pederson: Eagles didn't draft Jalen Hurts to undermine Carson Wentz. https://t.co/FyWDY92GoC
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) July 7, 2021
It wasn’t surprising that Pederson took this route, but if the former HC was going to create a revisionist history about Wentz’s final year, why not just reach out and apologize?
Any other Colts fans thrilled that Wentz got out of there? That isn’t to say Pederson was behind every decision that contributed to Wentz’s falling out with the franchise, but we think it goes without saying that Wentz is in safe hands with Frank Reich in Indianapolis.
Colts: Eagles tearing down Carson Wentz banner proves new era has finally begun
The Eagles tearing down Carson Wentz's banner at Lincoln Financial Field proves his new era in Indianapolis has finally begun.