First let me tackle the elephant in the room. Carson Wentz's contract is somewhat prohibitive when it comes to trading or releasing him this offseason. Back in 2019 the Eagles signed Wentz to what looked like a genius extension; a 4 year $128 million deal. To break that deal down just a bit more, heading into 2021 his base salary of $15,400,000 has already been fully guaranteed due to a clause in his contract, add in his yearly proration of his signing bonus at $3,273,536 per year until 2024, and $10 million roster bonus for 2021. Meaning the Eagles are on the hook for a minimum of $38,494,144 if they were to move on from him prior to 2011. However that does not mean there is not long term implications to keeping Wentz on the roster in 2021 if you dont believe he is the long term answer at QB. On the 3rd day of the league year in 2021 $15 million of his 2022 salary becomes guaranteed, resulting in a dead cap hit in 2022 of $24,547,060. It also results in roughly $900,000 less in unnecessary cost if he is traded away. However when you look at it in logical terms your choices are keeping Wentz on the roster at over $30 million a year to potentially alter his trade value for 2022, or trade him away, recoup an asset for 2021 to help build around Hurts, save another $900,000 on a 2021 cap number that currently sits at $64,593,761 over the limit. Any positive change to that number is a good start toward 2021 not being a disaster. Another aspect to that is adding draft picks in return would give them a higher ability to bring in cheaper talent to further aid the cap situation which could require other extremely tough decisions moving forward. Lastly there is one more cap related factor, by trading Wentz in 2021 they actually free up an additional $25 million in cap space in 2022. Continuing to build the necessary resources for a quick rebuild in 2022. The moral of all this is, if the price is right the Eagles shouldn't hesitate to trade Wentz, but they should not settle for anything less than a first round pick. Regardless Wentz or Hurts would have to give them a way to eliminate any reasonable doubt that it's time to move on from Wentz.
Jalen Hurts has undoubtedly provided a spark to the Eagles offense since taking over. It's no coincidence that Hurts totalled 7 tds and 1,023 yards to just 5 turnovers. However when you compare the stats between Hurts and Wentz you begin to see a picture that shows that Hurts isn't a huge margin above Wentz in terms of stats.
Hurts: 14 games 3 starts 70 of 128 attempts or 54% for 989 yards 6 tds, and 3 ints for a 85.7 break 12 sacks, adding 55 carries for 320 yards and 1 td. However he also had 9 fumbles losing 2. 6 of those fumbles have come in his 3 starts.
Wentz:12 games 12 starts 251 of 437 attempts or 57% for 2,620 yards, 16 tds, 15 ints. 50 sacks, 72.8 qbr he added 52 carries for 276 yards and 5 tds 10 fumbles, 4 lost.
So these stats show that yes Wentz is not as mobile, and doesn't have the escapabaility of Hurts however his stats are not all that dissimilar from those of Hurts. I believe a case could be made that with similar play calling Wentz could have been having even better success, however due to his expectations he was allowed to try and carry a battered and bruised offense. From repeated IR stints for every o lineman it seemed, prominent receivers like Jeffery, Jackson, Reagor, Ertz, Goedert, and Miles Sanders all dealt with injuries which led to offensive struggles he was asked to overcome.
So far I have painted a picture that Wentz's contract will be prohibitive to a trade, and his performance is not too far off from the man he is being benched for so does that really mean there is a scenario where Carson Wentz is competing for his starting job back this offseason? Yes the answer is definitively a yes. Wentz is less prohibitive to trade after the 2021 season due to a huge drop in dead cap money left from his contract. His replacement will be headed into his 2nd year with just 4 starts under his belt and a record that isn't exactly impressive. Honestly after looking through the facts of the situation the best case scenario might be Wentz figuring out his issues and retaking the starting position in 2021 and the Eagles continuing to use Hurts as a gadget player and backup qb. I pointed to Taysom Hill as a comparison for the 6'1 225 lb Hurts before I won't stop pointing this out. Hurts is valuable even as a backup due to his versatility, and given the right packages he would be productive without having to start.
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