People thought the quarterback carousel last year was crazy. Tom Brady leaving New England for Tampa Bay. Teddy Bridgewater returning as a starter with Carolina. Cam Newton replacing Brady in New England. Philip Rivers leaving the Chargers for the Colts. Amazing stuff. Yet somehow it appears 2021 may top it. Less than a month into the offseason and Matthew Stafford is already out of Detroit and headed for L.A. Deshaun Watson may soon be out in Houston. Now some are wondering if Carson Wentz will be up for grabs too.
The saga of the Philadelphia Eagles’ former #2 pick is something. He was angling for MVP honors in 2017 before tearing his ACL late in the season. Then Nick Foles stole his shine while leading them to a Super Bowl title. Since then it feels like the pressure has only mounted on him to do it again. All this while a contentious relationship developed between him and head coach Doug Pederson.
Things finally reached a breaking point in 2020.
After throwing 16 touchdowns and 15 interceptions, Wentz was benched in favor of rookie Jalen Hurts. This led the quarterback to request a trade out of town. He had no interest in being a backup. People thought that when Pederson was fired this past month and replaced by Nick Sirianni that it was a signal Philadelphia was throwing their support behind Wentz. Is that the case though? Sirianni was non-committal when asked about.
Enough to where many still think Wentz wants out and the Eagles are content moving forward with Hurts. Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune made it clear the 28-year old could be on the table for the Bears.
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“The Philadelphia Eagles are rumored to be looking to move Carson Wentz…
…Some are speculating whether the Bears could be in play for Carson Wentz, but you wonder what kind of scouting report former Eagles coach Doug Pederson would provide his friend Nagy.”
One can imagine Pederson may have plenty of warnings for anybody who will listen about Wentz. Stories out of Philadelphia are the quarterback can be difficult to coach at times. He certainly works hard but doesn’t respond well to hard coaching, which can lead to frequent lapses in his execution. His willingness to rebel against Pederson’s play-calling also doesn’t reflect well.
Is Carson Wentz worth the risk for the Bears?
Plenty of fans want nothing to do with him. He already has a reputation for being inconsistent. Now the word is coming out that he can be difficult to deal with too? That is more than enough for many to decline and move on. To say nothing of the contract that would bring a $34 million cap hit this year. These are valid concerns. At the same time, one can’t just bring up the bad without mentioning the good.
Prior to this season, Wentz had played some really good football. Between 2017 and 2019, he threw 81 touchdowns to 21 interceptions and posted a respectable 98.3 passer rating. He got them to the playoffs twice and set them up with homefield advantage in 2017. The guy is capable of playing good football. It’s a matter of whether somebody can get him back to that form.
Does Chicago have reasons to think they can?
They do employ John DeFilippo as their quarterbacks coach. He was the one who guided Wentz to his outstanding year in 2017 with the Eagles. It’s also worth mentioning GM Ryan Pace was a big fan of the quarterback when he was coming out of North Dakota State in 2016. The guy has fans inside Halas Hall. People who know his strengths and weaknesses. It’s not a stretch to think they might be interested.
Carson Wentz is financially expensive but may not cost much in terms of compensation. Philadelphia is in a major cap crunch. Unloading his contract would be a major help. He’s under contract through 2024 but becomes truly cuttable in 2022. If the Bears managed to turn him around, they are situated at QB for years to come. If not, they’ll have taken a two-season flier. Maybe they think it would be worth the risk.
