After just one year, Carson Wentz’s future with the Colts is “bleak,” ESPN’s Chris Mortensen said Sunday.
Mortensen said on NFL Countdown that Wentz's stay with Frank Reich in Indianapolis is shaping up to be a very short one.
“For Carson Wentz and the Indianapolis Colts, it looks bleak,” Mortensen said. “Yes, the Colts did not give him support verbally after the season, and they weren’t guaranteeing him anything. Well, right now it looks bleak, and by March 18 he’ll probably be traded or released. That’s when $15 million of his base salary is guaranteed. So for Carson Wentz and the Colts it looks like it was a one-year marriage that went wrong.”
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Philadelphia sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
This blockbuster news comes on the heels of the Colts’ hugely disappointing finish, with season-ending upset losses to the Raiders at home and lowly Jaguars in Jacksonville, knocking them out of the playoffs after a 9-6 start.
In what’s looking more and more like a massive triumph for Howie Roseman, the Eagles shipped Wentz after the 2020 season to the Colts for a third-round pick in the 2021 draft and a conditional second-round pick in 2022 that became a first-round pick when Wentz played 75 percent of the Colts’ snaps.
The conventional wisdom was that Wentz, reunited with Reich, his offensive coordinator with the Eagles in 2016 and 2017, would recapture his MVP form of the Eagles’ Super Bowl season.
But while Wentz’s final numbers didn’t look bad -- 27 touchdowns, seven interceptions, 62.4 percent accuracy, 94.6 passer rating -- he once again came up small in the biggest moments, and with the Colts just needing a win over a 2-14 Jaguars team that was a 15-point underdog, Wentz threw for just 185 yards, threw a costly interception and fumbled twice, losing one.
NFL
The Colts essentially learned what the Eagles learned. Whether it’s because of injuries or other factors, Wentz just is no longer close to being the player who went 11-2 in 2017, was third in the MVP balloting, earned Second-Team All-Pro honors and put the Eagles in position for their Super Bowl run.
After going 18-11 in his first two seasons, Wentz is 26-29-1 over the last four years, and he lasted only nine snaps in his only playoff appearance. Of 29 active quarterbacks who’ve started at least 50 games, Wentz is among only six who’ve never started and finished a playoff game. The others are Ryan Fitzpatrick, Jameis Winston, Baker Mayfield and Chad Henne.
Wentz’s $15 million guarantee has actually already been paid, but another $7 million guarantees on the first day of the league year next month if Wentz is still with the Colts.
If Wentz is on the Colts’ roster in 2022, he’ll earn $28.29 million in base salary under the current terms of his deal. If the Colts release him, they would absorb a $15 million dead money hit for a net cap savings of more than $13 million.
Wentz is also due base salaries of $20 million and $21 million in 2023 and 2024 but they are completely non-guaranteed.
Colts general manager Chris Ballard raised eyebrows right after the season when he failed to give Wentz a vote of confidence, saying, “Sitting here today, I won’t make a comment on who’s going to be here next year and who’s not going to be here next year. That’s not fair to any player. I thought Carson did some good things, and there’s a lot of things he needs to do better. Our passing game has to be better.”
Wherever Wentz ends up, he's not the Eagles' problem anymore. Looks like he won't be the Colts' problem, either.