From #2 overall pick to #2 QB, this is the story of how the Philadelphia Eagles destroyed the best thing to happen to them in over a decade: Carson Wentz.
2017:
Carson Wentz starts hot
This is where the volatility really kicked in for Wentz after a rookie season of promise. Howie Roseman orchestrated a masterful offseason to surround Wentz with the playmakers that the offense needed to thrive and the best O-line in Football.
Wentz spent the offseason working with QB Guru Adam Dedeaux in a bid to improve his footwork fundamentals and the results were mesmerizing. The second-year QB looked like a Gazelle in the pocket, constantly resetting his feet, throwing from a firm base, and adding some structure to his Houdini-esque talents.
The result was an MVP season that never was. Through 14 weeks, Wentz was invincible. 33 touchdowns, 7 interceptions, and 3,296 yards fail to really highlight just how impressive Wentz was in his second year. As we all know, it was a year he never got to finish.
Wentz tore his ACL in that week 14 matchup against the Rams in a daredevil attempt to punch the ball into the end zone. Nick Foles entered the game and ensured the team that drafted him back in 2012 got the win.
The rest is history.
Nick Foles takes the stage
Foles, who was previously best known for a second-year breakout of his own back in 2013 where he threw 7 touchdown passes against the Raiders, would go on to lead an overlooked Eagles team all the way to the Super Bowl and then go one step further and hoist the Lombardi Trophy.
All Carson Wentz could do was be supportive for his teammates and watch from the sideline as his backup QB, a former fan-favorite put the icing on his Cake.
It had to have stung, but it's part of the business. Injuries happen, his team did what they set out to do as a collective. Wentz would be back in 2018 and everything would be normal again, right?
2018
The snowball begins to roll
This is where the list of minor issues begin to snowball. Before Wentz even had a chance to get into the building, the euphoria surrounding one of the greatest underdog stories in sporting history had engulfed the City. A statue of Pederson and Foles calling the 'Philly special' was erected outside the Linc later that year, cementing its legacy. The story of Nick Foles and his footballing transformation was the talk of the town. It's less than ideal, but again, not the end of the world.
Where the issues really kicked in were during the heart of the offseason. Unable to physically practice due to his rehab, Carson Wentz spent a chunk of Training Camp watching from a distance. The team that had spent every game from week 15 through to the Super Bowl working with Nick Foles as QB1 under a simplified scheme was about to do so again. Receivers were used to his timing, placement, rhythm, and overall presence.
Carson Wentz returns
Wentz hurried himself back from injury to take over from the offense in week 3 and would fight valiantly to get back on the same page with his offense.
A 5-6 record was good enough to put the Eagles in a position to win the NFC East, and a stunning 69% completion percentage headlined a slightly more conservative QB who was well aware of the consequences that his daredevil play could bring. Wentz tossed 21 touchdowns and 7 picks along with 3,074 yards before something interesting happened.
Wentz ended the season IR. After battling a back injury all season and being listed on the injury report twice, the pain grew too much and he was diagnosed with a stress fracture on December 11th.
It didn't require surgery, but you can draw a direct correlation to some mechanical struggles Wentz had that season to his torn ACL. Wentz was often throwing off his back foot and having to over-exert his torso to generate the power lost which may well have led to some problems.
Anonymous sources vs Carson Wentz: EP1
In the weeks prior to his designation, tensions started to rise. The first in the 'anonymous source' saga saw a player criticize Wentz to ESPN's Josina Anderson for targeting Zach Ertz too much. Ertz was easily the most targeted player on the team (156 to his name by season's end with Nelson Agholor the closest to him with 97), but it's not like it was without reason.
This wouldn't matter anyway for a few months. The Eagles had a playoff berth to secure and a Lombardi Trophy to defend.
Nick Foles took back over against the same team he did in the year beforehand and the same result ensued. The Eagles started to roll and all of a sudden, things started to change.
With a playoff berth in reaching distance, the ski-masks were donned and the underdog mentality was embraced. Interestingly, ahead of the Houston Texans matchup, a shrine to Nick Foles was created inside the locker room as a 'good luck charm'. Harmless fun? Maybe. Morale booster? For everyone except the man who had to watch him win a Super Bowl and guide that team to glory, get a statue outside the stadium and now looking to repeat that same miracle, maybe.
The Eagles made the playoffs but their journey ended in heartbreak this time. With time running out and a chance to pull of yet another miracle, Foles tried to guide the offense down the field in New Orleans, but a rare mistake from Alshon Jeffery saw a pass tipped into the air and safely into the hands of Marshon Lattimore. Hopes ended. Dreams shattered. Controversy ensued.
Continued on the page below.
Photo credits: Icon Sportswire
2019:
The offseason kicked off with the greatest non-QB controversy in recent memory. The Eagles had to move on from Foles, not because of Wentz, but due to the fact he more than earned an opportunity to start and had contract complications. Despite countless rumors and analysts pounding the table for his presence to remain in Philadelphia.
Anonymous sources vs Carson Wentz EP2
This then led to anonymous sourcegate part 2: Electric Boogaloo.
"Selfish", "uncompromising", "Egotistical". That's exactly what you want to hear from "more than a half dozen players, plus other sources close to the team" as Marcus Hayes cited in the piece that essentially ripped the Eagles QB to shreds.
Wentz handled this absolute mess with class, accountability, and reflection. Instead of calling the source wrong, he took responsibility for how his actions had been perceived in the must humble way imaginable. The third-year player who had already been to Valhalla and back wanted to better himself for his team and promised to change his ways.
Fast forward a few months to the start of the season and things start to go wrong for the Eagles...quickly. It was more of the same. Blown leads, erratic plays, and fumbles all played a part, but that's always been the hero-ball that makes and breaks Carson Wentz. It just so happens that the Hero was becoming a Villain.
Anonymous sources vs Carson Wentz EP3
Enter anonymous sourcegate part 3: Electric Jamboree?
We need to make bleep simpler. Sometimes we need to just handle what is manageable. Even Peyton Manning knew when to check it down.'
Well, this is fun. This time, it was a player talking to ESPN's Josina Anderson with regards to how Wentz plays the game. It felt weird that this came months after the 'Zach Ertz is being targeted too much' report as they really don't correlate. It felt like either someone had it out for Wentz or he was dealing with a mutiny.
As if things couldn't get even more ridiculous, former Cowboys CB Orlando Scandrick, who was cut from the team just one week prior to his infamous TV spot on First Take, decided to fully rip into Carson Wentz. He went on to say how some players 'preferred Foles', totally re-igniting a fire the team had only just extinguished.
The comeback king
Carson Wentz had heard enough. He'd seen enough. The Eagles were decimated with injuries and limping through the season at this point and things were looking bleak. That was until Wentz stood up and turned into the man that the team needed.
Just before his spike in form, Howie Roseman had the foresight to pay Carson Wentz early. He knew the market was going to sky-rocket and if Dak Prescott, at the time a lesser QB, was paid before him, then Roseman would be paying a premium he couldn't afford. He jumped the gun and made Wentz a $128M man. Wentz was given a contract laden with incentives, workarounds, and prorated bonuses in an attempt to make it affordable, but more importantly, security. This was finally his team again.
Wentz stepped up, put the team on his back, and carried a dying offense to a third-consecutive playoff berth. Over the course of the final four games of the season, he threw 7 TD, 0 INT, for 1,199 yards, to an offense filled with practice squad promotees, leading the Eagles to four straight wins and that all-important playoff berth.
Tragedy would strike Wentz once again when he reached the big dance, falling victim to a vicious illegal hit from Jadeveon Clowney. Wentz was out of the game before it had even really started. Josh McCown somehow kept the Eagles alive, but it wasn't to be. All that was left was another postseason 'what-if?'.
But the Eagles had their man. Their $128M man who had battled through Hell to get to that point. The future was bright...until it wasn't.
Continued on the page below.
Photo credits: Icon Sportswire
2020:
The beginning of the end
The Eagles needed speed at wide receiver, that much was clear. What they didn't 'need' to do was draft a quarterback in the second round...but they did it anyway. Much to the unrest of the entire City, Jalen Hurts was selected with the 53rd-overall pick.
With team needs ignored, Roseman defended the pick by emphasizing the desire to become a 'QB Factory'. The Eagles had leaned so heavily on the availability of a strong backup QB that it made sense to start up the conveyor belt once more since Nate Sudfeld still wasn't ready to become a QB2. But in no way was it an indictment of Wentz. No way at all. Not one bit.
The truth is, you could be in the most committed, stable, and happy relationship on the planet, but if you tell your significant other you're going for Dinner with a Super Model, they're naturally going to ask questions...and those questions in this case may well have opened an unresolved bucket of chaos.
Wentz has had every reason to doubt the Eagles' trust in him 2017. Anonymous sources and a franchise love for a backup QB would do that to anyone. But with a $128M commitment to him made just months before, why bring in a Heisman runner-up now?
We all tried to make sense of it. We all hypothesized, we all wondered. Maybe it was the 'Marty effect' after the team's newest offensive coach spent 2018 working with Lamar Jackson and implementing 2-QB sets. Maybe it really was just supposed to be taken at face value. Either way Wentz couldn't let it beat him.
The unfortunate truth was that he didn't need to. The team had already done that job for him and Wentz simply jumped on the inner war with himself.
The regression
There's no doubting that Carson Wentz regressed in 2020, he fell off of a production cliff like very few do. But it's not like there was a huge difference. Mechanically, Wentz hadn't been the same since the departure of John DeFilippo. Press Taylor just wasn't getting the best out of him, or anywhere close to that.
His footwork was sloppy, he was still throwing off his back foot and making risky decisions. The same decisions he'd always made that had just previously gone unpunished. The balls sporadically launched at the floor during a sack were now picked up by defenders. The tight-coverage throws were picks, and he spent most of the year running for his life.
There are obvious factors here:
Sacked more than anyone else. Hit more than anyone else. Injuries to skill position players.Awful playcalling that only hampered him instead of playing to his strengths. A total lack of run-support
But with each passing loss, frustrating game, and visible mistake, the pressure grew. The looming threat that had followed Wentz his entire career now brought with it an eventual replacement. It was no longer just hypotheticals and TV debates. This was real. Carson Wentz wasn't just running for his life, he was running for his job.
The pressure builds
Everyone from his idol, Brett Favre, to TV analysts, to former teammates were quick to give their takes and all of a sudden a fire turned into a hellscape. It was beyond all control. Doug Pederson looked more and more like he was about to have a meltdown with each presser that came and went, yet refused to make any schematic change to help his QB.
Wentz was isolated in a room of 53 men. He was the only one with the weight of a team on his shoulders, struggling to carry it as his Head Coach watched on and his replacement waited patiently.
Eventually, enough was enough. Jalen Hurts entered the game against the Packers after a poor first half from Wentz and that was it.
Endgame.
The floodgates open
It had happened again. Wentz was back to the sideline while an offense magically contorted into new previously unseen shapes. Jalen Hurts didn't fix the offense, but he was clearly part of the solution in masking some of its many flaws as opposed to exposing them as Wentz did.
At this point, Carson Wentz needs a change of scenery. Badly. It doesn't matter what he does from this point out, he'll always be in somebody's shadow. Whether it's that of Jalen Hurts, Doug Pederson, Nick Foles, or his own, the Eagles have done nothing but help form the blackhole that their franchise QB has been desperately trying to escape from.
Carson Wentz isn't a broken quarterback. Damaged, but fixable. He has taken gut punches from just about every angle including teammates present and past. The Eagles did nothing but incite it. The team was quick enough to cut Zach Brown after he criticized Kirk Cousins and made himself look silly, but stood back and watched as Carson Wentz battled a locker room that caved in on him.
This was the story of how the Eagles destroyed the best thing to happen to them in over a decade...and unfortunately, the ending isn't set in stone. But all signs point to it being an unpleasant read that only further pushes Carson Wentz to the edge.
Photo credits: Icon Sportswire
