A timeline of Carson Wentz's 5+ years with the Eagles
Carson Wentz has been traded so let's look back at his five seasons with the Eagles. By Dave Zangaro
The Eagles traded Carson Wentz on Thursday, less than six years after they drafted him with the No. 2 overall pick out of North Dakota State.
During his time with the Eagles, Wentz had incredible highs and unthinkable lows.
Here’s a look back at his Eagles career from beginning to end:
Carson Wentz was on the Eagles’ radar when they went to Mobile for the 2016 Senior Bowl but that’s really where they fell in love with him. At this point, the Eagles still had the No. 13 pick in the draft and by the end of the week in Alabama, it was pretty clear that Wentz wasn’t going to be available at No. 13.
“I liked him,” Doug Pederson said that week when asked about Wentz. “He’s got great size, good mobility, strong kid, good arm. It will be interesting to eventually sit down and talk with him to see where he’s at mentally. But by the eye, talented kid, who looks like he can play in this league.”
The Eagles fell in love with Wentz at the Senior Bowl, but they weren’t done their research. It was During the 2016 combine were they really got to sit down and talk in depth with Wentz to explore his makeup. They came away incredibly impressed. They even has a renowned sports psychologist meet with Wentz that week and he reported back extremely positively.
This was also when Howie Roseman laid the groundwork for the trade to get from No. 13 to 8. Roseman was scheming to get up high enough to get Wentz and approached Mike Tannenbaum about a potential trade. Eventually, the Eagles got No. 8 for No. 13, Kiko Alonso and Byron Maxwell.
Eight days before the draft, the Eagles pulled off the blockbuster trade to get up to the No. 2 pick. The Eagles traded No. 8 and four more picks, including a 2017 first-rounder to Cleveland to get just behind the Rams. Roseman tried to pretend like the Eagles didn’t know which quarterback they’d end up with — comparing Jared Goff and Wentz to chocolate and vanilla ice cream — but Wentz was always their guy.
The 2016 NFL Draft was in Chicago and the first two picks went as expected. The Rams took Goff at No. 1 and the Eagles took Wentz with the No. 2 pick, making him their highest draft choice since Donovan McNabb in 1999. Out of North Dakota State, Wentz became the highest draft pick ever from the FCS.
“One player can change your team,” Roseman said after the pick. “For us, we know how important that position is.”
Wentz cracked his ribs in the preseason opener and didn’t play again that preseason. But before the third preseason game — often referred to as the dress rehearsal — Wentz went through a lengthy and intense workout with the Eagles’ top coaches and executives watching. The workout was about a half hour long and the Eagles really worked Wentz. That was how they knew he was ready.
Teddy Bridgewater suffered a horrific injury a few days before so the Vikings — who thought they were ready to go back to the playoffs — were desperate. In fact, they were desperate enough to give the Eagles a first-round pick for Sam Bradford. While Chase Daniel was the No. 2 on the Eagles’ depth chart, Wentz was named the starter. When Wentz got the phone call from Pederson, he was goose hunting. He got just one. “It was a rough morning,” he said.
The rookie’s career got off to a fast start. He threw for 278 yards and 2 touchdowns in a 29-10 win over the Browns. He put up a passer rating of 101.0 in his first NFL game and actually helped the Eagles begin the 2016 season with three straight wins.
Wentz ended up having an up-and-down first season, along with the Eagles. After winning three to start the season, the Eagles went 2-9 in their next 11 games. The lowest point was a Week 13 loss in Cincinnati. It was the only time in his tenure that Doug Pederson questioned his team’s effort.
The Eagles ended up finishing the season with a 7-9 record after wins in Weeks 16-17. Wentz finished his rookie season with 3,782 passing yards, 16 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. But he re-wrote the Eagles’ rookie record book. He set Eagles rookie records for pass attempts, completions, yards, touchdowns completion percentage and passer rating. He also set an NFL record for completions as a rookie with 379. That was a record that lasted until 2020, when Justin Herbert broke it.
If you have to pinpoint the best game in Wentz’s Eagles career, this would probably come at the top of the list. On Monday Night Football, Wentz dazzled a primetime audience and really introduced himself to the world and put his name firmly into the MVP discussion. Against Washington, Wentz threw for 268 yards and four touchdowns and also pulled off some incredible moves to avoid sacks. The Eagles won 34-24 to keep their win streak alive.
In a matchup of the 2016 top draft picks, Wentz was having a terrific evening at the LA Coliseum. He had already thrown three touchdown passes as the Eagles drove in the third quarter. On a 1st-and-goal, Wentz tried to dive into the end zone and got sandwiched. He came up hobbling but finished the drive, throwing a touchdown pass to Alshon Jeffery a few plays later. But then he left the game and eventually we found out he had a torn ACL and his season was over.
After the game, the Eagles were celebrating their NFC East title, but there was worry in the air. Wentz made himself a plate of foot and hobbled to the busses, his season over.
By all accounts, Wentz was a fantastic teammate that season. While he was on IR, he remained a leader and incredibly involved in offensive meetings. He cheered on Nick Foles and his other teammates during that playoff run. Ultimately, it led to a 41-33 win over the Patriots in Super Bowl LII. While Wentz was happy for his team, he watched his backup get named Super Bowl MVP as feelings of jealously began to creep in.
While many thought Wentz should have been the MVP for the 2017 season, it eventually went to Tom Brady, who was also named as the No. 1 player in the NFL on the NFL Top 100 Players. But he was followed by Antonio Brown and then Carson Wentz.
Even thought Foles led the Eagles to a Super Bowl LII win, the Eagles never wavered. Throughout that postseason run, they let everyone know that Wentz was still their franchise QB. In fact, they even put Wentz right in the middle of the Super Bowl team photo, he was the only player out of numerical order.
After the torn ACL, Wentz was hoping he’d be ready for the 2018 season opener but he wasn’t. He made his season debut in Week 3 against the Colts. Wentz played fine that day, throwing for 255 yards with a touchdown and a pick. It was just encouraging to get him back on the field.
The Eagles lost to the Cowboys 29-23 but Wentz still threw three touchdowns and zero interceptions. But this was his last game of the season. It was revealed that Wentz suffered a stress fracture in his back. The injury didn’t need surgery but he was out indefinitely and Foles ended up finishing the season again. Foles even led the Eagles to another postseason win, in the Double Doink game in Chicago.
Wentz missed the postseason run in each of the last two years but instead of letting Wentz play on his fifth-year option, the Eagles signed Wentz to a four-year extension worth $128 million with around $70 million guaranteed. The contract was through the 2024 season but wouldn’t start until the 2021 season.
Unlike in 2018, Wentz was ready for the start of the 2019 season. The back took less time to heal. And in that first game back, Wentz was impressive. He completed 71.8% of his passes for 313 yards and 3 touchdowns. He had a passer rating of 121.0 in this game and tossed a couple bombs to DeSean Jackson.
After two consecutive losses, the Eagles went into Green Bay and took down Aaron Rodgers and the Packers 34-27. That loss to the Eagles was just one of three all season for the Packers. In this win, Wentz ain’t perfect but did toss 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. This was one of the more impressive wins in the last five seasons.
It wasn’t a perfect season, but after a 5-7 start, Wentz led the Eagles on an incredible four-game win streak to end the season. In those last four games, Wentz threw 7 touchdowns and 0 picks and had a passer rating over 100. And he did it with a bunch of practice squad call-ups. The Eagles beat the Giants in Week 17 to win the division and head back to the playoffs.
Wentz was hot coming into the playoffs and the Eagles got to host the Seahawks in the wild card round. Everyone figured the Eagles had a good chance to win this game if Wentz had another good game. And maybe he would have, but we’ll never know. Just a few snaps into the game, Jadeveon Clowney hit Wentz with a helmet-to-helmet shot that ended Wentz’s first playoff game very early. Wentz got checked out and never checked back in.
The Eagles shocked the football world when they used the No. 53 pick in the 2020 draft on quarterback Jalen Hurts, who starred at Alabama and Oklahoma. At Oklahoma, he really shined in Lincoln Riley’s offense but no one expected the Eagles to take him. The Eagles tried to explain the baffling move by stressing the importance of the position and Roseman even regrettably said they were a “quarterback factory.” Wentz publicly welcomed Hurts to Philly but underneath he wasn’t happy that the organization drafted his backup instead of a player who could help him win.
After watching Wentz’s historic regression for the the first 12 weeks of the season, Pederson finally had enough In Green Bay, where Wentz had one of his best career wins just a little over a year earlier, Pederson pulled Wentz in the third quarter. Hurts took over as the starter and played well enough to earn a start. And then in that start earned another and Wentz never saw the field again. He was even inactive for the season finale.
Pederson coached the Eagles for five seasons, got to the playoffs in three of those seasons and won a Super Bowl, but none of that was enough to save his job. Jeff Lurie said Pederson’s vision for the future was different than the organization’s and they moved on. It seemed like Pederson’s firing increased the odds Wentz would back.
After weeks of speculation, the Eagles finally did it. They traded Wentz to the Colts for a 2021 third-round pick and a 2022 second-rounder that can become a first. It had become abundantly clear that the relationship between the player and the team wasn’t going to be fixed and the Eagles found their exit plan.
