WASHINGTON — After the Washington Commanders missed out a potential Russell Wilson trade, they apparently quickly jumped on their fallback option in trading for Indianapolis Colts quarterback Carson Wentz. But was it the right move?
The Colts were rumored to be looking to move on from Wentz after just one season, and after they gave up a first round pick to get him, after he unraveled at the end of the season and the Colts inexplicably missed out on the playoffs.
Meanwhile, the Commanders were looking to upgrade at quarterback after a season of Taylor Heinicke, following Ryan Fitzpatrick's Week 1 season-ending injury last season.
The Commanders made the deal to take on Wentz's entire contract, which will cost $28 million against the cap next season as Washington only had $33 million in space to work with.
Locked On NFL Insider and former Super Bowl Champion Isaiah Stanback said the move from Washington was extremely risky.
“I don’t think Wentz is an upgrade," Stanback said. "I liked the move Washington made last year when they picked up Ryan Fitzpatrick. He obviously got hurt the first week of the season, they obviously know a lot more than we know about the severity of that…They were unable to capitalize on the Russell Wilson trade so now there’s a sense of desperation to get someone who’s comfortable with the conference, somebody who has some kind of former winning percentage, some kind of veteran.”
Stanback said Washington may have been smarter to save that money and start Heinicke or to go after a rookie in the draft. He said you would hope that Wentz would be pushed by a starting quarterback competition between him and Heinicke, his price tag shows he'll be the starter no matter what.
“I thought Taylor Heinicke did a great job last year stepping into that starting role after Fitzpatrick went down," Stanback said. "You would think this would be some sort of competition at quarterback but $28 million against the cap, Wentz is probably just walking into this starting position.”
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Over on the Locked On Commanders podcast, host David Harrison laid out a number of concerns about bringing Wentz in to lead the Commanders.
“Some immediate concerns about Carson Wentz: One, on the field, the entire football community watched him melt down at the end of the season as the Colts are trying to make a push to the playoffs," Harrison said. "And then, you have the off field concerns, going back to his ‘MVP campaign’ the year the Eagles won the Super Bowl. He got injured and Foles comes in and helps the Eagles win the Super Bowl. Carson Wentz was never the same after that.”
Reports have emerged about leadership issues in Philadelphia for Wentz, who reportedly did not want them to go on and win the Super Bowl after he got injured in 2018.
The Colts traded for Wentz largely because of his history with their head coach, Frank Reich, who implored the Colts front office to make the deal. After just one year, reports came out that Reich actually went to Colts owner Jim Irsay and apologized for asking the team to trade for Wentz.
“If Frank Reich was the guy that was supposed to make this whole thing with Wentz work and it didn’t work, that’s a problem and that’s going to be a little bit concerning," Harrison said.
On the Locked On Commanders podcast, Harrison goes deeper to discuss cap implications after the Wentz trade and what it means for Washington’s draft strategy.