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The Philadelphia Eagles, officially eliminated from the postseason, will play their final game tonight against Washington. Immediately after the game, planning for 2021 begins.
When it comes to the quarterback position, the Eagles take a break before starting a full assessment. Generally speaking, the Eagles believe that reserve holder Carson Wentz can be repaired and that he can resume his successful career.
The first question is whether Wentz will be reinstated as a starter for 2021 or whether Wentz and Jalen Hurts from the 2020 runoff will compete for the job. In theory, the Eagles could also decide to make the Hurts the starter, with no competition between him and Wentz. That result seems the least likely at this point, mainly because the Eagles continue to believe Wentz.
Given the investment made to negotiate to obtain Wentz in 2016, the decision to keep him on MVP Nick Foles of Super Bowl LIII and the investment in the form of a $ 32 million annual contract, the Eagles cannot and will not want to lose faith in Wentz based on a bad season – especially since the season featured a series of injuries on the offensive line and, in tonight’s game, 14 different combinations of players in the top five positions.
While there is no real comparison to Wentz, who played well enough in his first three years to gain an extension of market value, had another solid year and then regressed badly, it is not entirely unprecedented for franchise-level defenders to experience a low season early in their careers. In 2006, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had 18 touchdown passes and 23 interceptions, one season after winning the Super Bowl. In 2001, Colts quarterback Peyton Manning dropped from 33 touchdown passes and 15 interceptions to 26 and 23, while his team moved from 10-6 to 6-10.
So why was Wentz passed over to Hurts? The fact that the Eagles belong to a division that fought in all areas in 2020 kept the team looking for a playoff spot for longer than it should have. With an opening at the end of the season to take the NFC East title, coach Doug Pederson decided to try to spark the team by playing for Hurts.
But Hurts was not designed to replace Wentz. The Eagles realize, more than any team, that they need two viable defenders at all times. From 2017 to 2019, the Eagles had six playoff games and Wentz gave a total of nine snaps in those games, all of which occurred in the 2019 playoff round.
The Eagles, like many teams, highly value the position of reserve defender, considering it a position in the top 15 on the list. That message, however, may not have been fully communicated to Wentz, given Jay Glazer’s report last month that Hurts’ arrival damaged Wentz’s confidence.
Whatever the Eagles decide to do, they can easily keep Wentz and Hurts’ contracts under the salary cap, as Hurts has a rookie contract for another three seasons. Although things will be more than a little strange if Hurts starts next year on a salary of $ 883,000, while Wentz is languishing at the bank with a $ 34.6 million limit, the total limit and the cash investment in quarterback position does not throw things out of the way for eagles.
The Eagles were also unmoved by the strategic leak that Wentz won’t want to be without if he starts. An NFL quarterback who has already started is expected to remain in the starting lineup.
Negotiation remains possible, depending on the decisions made by the Eagles after assessing the full position of the defender. It will not be easy to assign the right value or get it from another team, and the Eagles have proved that they are not just going to give defenders. In fact, Wentz’s career started after the Eagles planned to start the 2016 season with Sam Bradford at the center until Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater suffered a severe knee injury in late August and the Vikings coughed a choice in the first and in the fourth round to place Bradford Wentz as the starter.
Five years later, Wentz could be reinstalled as the starter. Or he may have to compete for it. Or he can fall on the bench. The final result will not be known for the time being; what is known is that the Eagles currently believe that the drop in Wentz’s performance will turn out to be a short-term thing.