Carson Wentz has spoken publicly just one time since the end of the 2020 season. Five days ago, he gave his teammate Rodney McLeod a shoutout for being a Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee and he did it in a sponsored Twitter post.
Aside from that? Silence.
Wentz hasn’t spoken to reports since Dec. 6 after he was benched in the second half for Jalen Hurts. And as a new head coach has taken over, that silence has spoken volumes. At least that was the thought on the John Kincade Show on 97.5 The Fanatic on Wednesday morning with Adam Schefter.
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The show brought up that silence with the ESPN insider, who took it another step further.
Schefter: “That tells you something.”
Kincade: “It does. It tells me that the leader of the franchise, the guy that’s supposed to be the face of the franchise, somehow is disconnected from the franchise.”
Schefter: “And wants to leave the franchise. OK, and that’s why the trade still is in play. Again, people wondering where did this stuff come from at the end of the year, was it made … this is all real. None of this is made up. And just because he would like to be moved or hasn’t commented, it doesn’t mean he will be.
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“If I had to guess, I would guess he is traded. That would be my guess, OK, at some point this offseason. But again they’re not going to trade him just … they’re not looking to trade him.”
It seems pretty clear that Wentz’s relationship with the franchise is strained but Schefter saying Wentz “wants to leave the franchise” seems significant.
And while Schefter said it was just a guess, the fact that he guessed the Eagles will trade the 28-year-old quarterback also seems significant.
But Schefter also made it very clear that the Eagles aren’t just interested in trading Wentz just to trade him. He thinks they would premium compensation in return. Schefter guessed it would take at least a first-round pick for the Eagles to move Wentz this offseason.
During his introductory press conference, new head coach Nick Sirianni was asked about Wentz in several different ways and the end result was Sirianni's being very non-committal about Wentz’s future with the team. When asked if Wentz would return in 2021, Sirianni said, “I can’t answer that.”
Will the Eagles end up trading Wentz? We don’t know yet. But it looks like a real possibility if a market presents itself and the relationship isn’t mendable.
“They’re not going to trade him unless they get back fair value,” Schefter said. “And what I would say is, the issue there is that the Eagles will want strong compensation for a guy that a few years ago could have won the MVP. They will want strong compensation. And let me say this: They will listen. They will absolutely listen.
“And if a team makes the right offer, there will be a trade that will be made. But if a team doesn’t make the right offer, I think that they’ll be open to bringing him back and having him compete in camp with Jalen Hurts. To me, it could go either way.”
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