Ask and you will receive, apparently. Yesterday, we profiled the Philadelphia Eagles as an emerging commercial contender in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft for the Miami Dolphins. But if and only if the Eagles agreed to an exchange to send veteran quarterback Carson Wentz.
No less than a few hours later, the action was accomplished. Wentz will be an Indianapolis Colt in 2021 and the Philadelphia Eagles are presumably facing another quarterback decision this offseason, despite the choice of Jalen Hurts in the second round of the NFL’s Draft 2020. And the Miami Dolphins can be absolutely helpful in Philadelphia’s attempt to secure a prominent defender.
But it will not be as easy as we proposed yesterday.
Because, as we described when exploring the dynamics of a possible Eagles & Dolphins deal for No. 3 and 6 flip picks in the April NFL Draft, the obvious parallel to draw was the 2018 Colts and Jets deal by Sam Darnold. This deal saw the Jets send two second-round choices from that same year and another from the following year to Indianapolis to choose from. But the Philadelphia Eagles, based on the terms of Wentz’s exchange with the Colts, don’t have two choices for the second round this year. Because the Colts refused to send a second-round pick to Philadelphia in 2021 for Wentz.
The Eagles won the 85th overall choice in 2021 and a 2nd round conditional choice in 2022, which could become a 1st round choice depending on Wentz’s performance in Indianapolis – which throws some cold water into our initial proposal yesterday :
“After the Eagles were transferred to Wentz, the team could theoretically send the following package to move up three places:
General No. 6
General No. 37
No. 52 overall or No. 54 overall (assuming trade with Chicago or Indianapolis for Wentz)
A 2022 2nd round choiceThis may seem like a high price to pay, but remember that the Jets did exactly the same deal with the Colts in 2018. That deal sent the NFL Draft No. 37 and 49 picks and a 2019 2nd round pick (No. 34 in general). ” – Dolphins Wire
The best that eagles can do now based on this line of thought is to send a 2nd round choice in 2021 and two in 2022; and even then they may not have two choices in the second round if Wentz meets the conditions to graduate the Colts’ choice to a choice in the first round.
This is now complicated because the Eagles cannot guarantee that they will have the choices necessary to replicate the Darnold trade. And Miami should, rightly, want a better payment for 2021 to get out of No. 3 overall than just adding a choice in the second round. Therefore, that possibility is not dead; Not by a long shot. But the Eagles’ desperation to get a quarterback in the top three will determine whether Miami can close this deal or not; because the Dolphins are not going to give Philadelphia a discount just because they had a bad immediate return for Wentz.