It has become increasingly evident that the Eagles are going to trade Carson Wentz.
The questions now are about when the trade is going to go down and what the Eagles are going to get in return.
“The timing is harder to predict than the outcome,” former Eagles president Joe Banner said to John Clark in an interview that first aired on NBC10’s Philly Live Sports.
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Banner said he thinks the trade will happen in the new few days. When it does, the Eagles will be left with nearly $34 million in dead money, a new NFL record for a single player.
While Banner said recent events have pointed to a breakup between Wentz and the Eagles, it doesn’t make it any less shocking in the grand scheme of things.
“It depends when you asked me,” Banner said. “Am I surprised from a year or two ago? I’m totally shocked. I loved the player in the draft, I thought signing the contract early with a quarterback market about to explode was smart. And here we are worrying about will he get traded but will they get fair compensation back.
“It’s kind of shocking. I don’t know how anybody could have anticipated. I can’t think of a comparable instance in sports where we’re seen somebody achieve the levels he has and then … last year’s film, he’s not even a starter in the NFL. So how did we get from A to B? I don’t think we’ll ever know and I don’t even really have a good theory.”
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Banner during last season was pretty surprised when the Eagles decided to bench Wentz and he told Clark he thought it was more meaningful than many believed. From that point on, Banner thought there was a chance Wentz wouldn’t be back.
The crazy part about all this is that the Eagles signed Wentz to an extension less than two years ago and that extension doesn’t even kick in until this coming season.
Banner admitted he would have done exactly what Howie Roseman did and signed Wentz early. Banner viewed Wentz as a young and talented quarterback who would have demanded an even higher salary in years to follow. So Banner thinks the Eagles made the right decision with the contract extension but got burned anyway.
“With hindsight, now that we know what happened, it’s clearly a mistake,” Banner said. “Nobody could deny that outcome. Although as I said, had I been in that seat, I would have done the exact same thing. I thought it was a smart thing to do.”
Of course, even if the Eagles made the right decision on the extension, it doesn’t mean they didn’t fail in other areas.
Now, it’s about trying to make the best of a bad situation, which is what the Eagles will try to do by trading Wentz. When asked about compensation, Banner said he thinks the Eagles will get a “good return,” but thinks fans need to be realistic.
The two teams we’ve heard as the frontrunners for Wentz are the Colts and Bears. Banner believes the Colts are clearly the better fit for Wentz. They give him the best chance at personal redemption and team success.
And he even thinks Wentz’s influence could be felt when it comes to the landing spot.
“He can influence a deal and his agent can influence a deal,” Banner said. “The agent could be making it clear to the teams which place he’d rather go. And this is true in any instance, not just Carson. An acquiring team, especially of a quarterback, is not going to want to acquire a player that doesn’t really want to be there. There are subtle ways they can influence.
“They can also make an appeal to Howie, listen, we’re having a breakup, we’re getting a divorce, but we had some great time together, can we try to work on this together and hopefully you can get what you need but you can also be conscious of what he’s looking for. Sometimes those things go on behind the scenes and in this instance, if there’s a possibility to work out in a place where Wentz feels good about and the Eagles are able to get in the ballpark of what they’re looking for, I’d hope they’d have a bias towards that outcome.”
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