Now that NFL 2020 is officially over, I would expect conversations about player movement to heat up around the league, with the hottest name still being the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, Carson Wentz.
The first two teams linked to Wentz are still the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts, and most believe a deal could be closed in a day or two.
This morning, ESPN’s Adam Schefter said he expects Wentz to be traded “relatively soon” because the Eagles received enough interest to make it a foregone conclusion. He still has the Bears and Colts as the two most likely destinations, but he said other teams also checked in.
NJ.com’s Mike Kaye is also reporting that the Bears and Colts are in the “driver’s seat” in any deal for Wentz, but that an “undisclosed third team is in the mix”.
There has been some talk about the Houston Texans being the third team, but ours Brandon Robinson I heard that the 49ers contacted Philly. Robinson also has the Bears and Colts as the two best teams in the race for Wentz, with the Bears still ahead.
Steven Holder, who covers the Colts for The Athletic, says the Colts are definitely in the running for Wentz and that the original price asked by the Eagles were two choices in the first round. Holder also says that the Colts would never offer so much for Wentz and that the team is confident that it will be able to put Wentz back to the level of play it showed before its bad 2020 season.
The Chicago Tribune’s Dan Wiederer reports that the Bears and Eagles talked about Wentz, but he’s not sure how far those conversations went.
The Tribune’s Brad Biggs thinks that with the buzz surrounding a Wentz deal for Chicago being so loud it could mean Eagles GM Howie Roseman is leaking stuff to the media and using Bears’ desperation for a quarterback as a way to raise the price in the league.
This theory was also shared by Kaye in that NJ.com article I created on the link above. “While there is a sense that GM Howie Roseman is trying to drive the market forward, the person (Kaye source) said that GM Chris Ballard of Colts and GM Ryan Pace of Bears remained” disciplined “during the negotiations.”
The leaks generally don’t come from the Pace and Bears side of the business, so this theory makes sense.
UPDATE: Kaye is now Tweeting that he wouldn’t be surprised if there were multiple players involved in any Wentz deal.
There have been previous conversations about the Bears sending Nick Foles and another offensive player to the Eagles, but there may be players that Philly includes as well.
UPDATE: Mike Garafollo was on NFL Network earlier today and he said he was almost 100% sure that Wentz would be traded, and that the Bears and Colts are in the mix along with a few other teams, and he said the Bears and Colts are monitoring other available defenders as well.
These other QBs may be Teddy Bridgewater, Sam Darnold or Derek Carr, all three of whom are supposed to be under negotiation, but perhaps that also means that the draw for Deshaun Watson is still at stake for these two teams.
From the Colts’ perspective, it could also mean Nick Foles from Chicago, considering there are rumors that he is an option to meet with Indy coach Frank Reich.
UPDATE: According to Adam Caplan, an NFL Insider for FOX and SiriusXM who also covers the Eagles, the Bears have no intention of exchanging two choices from the first round for Wentz.
Here’s what Caplan said via Inside the Birds.
“As I understand it, the Bears are not interested in giving up two choices in the first round. They gave up two choices in the first round [in 2018] to get Khalil Mack and a few more. They don’t want to do that. I kind of laughed at the people who wanted to eat the [Matthew] Stafford trade. Guys, Matthew Stafford is a proven NFL quarterback who was never put on the bench. Carson Wentz may be a very talented quarterback, but he has been banned. The Bears want the guy, this is based on several sources. They want the guy, but I can’t see [Bears GM] Ryan Pace collapsing here. “
I wonder if Pace would give up two choices from the first round for another QB.
Regarding the last two updates, it looks like Pace may be leaking some things to counteract the things that Roseman has been leaking. The game is fun to watch, I just hope Pace doesn’t bid against himself in whatever deal he ends up making.