Here’s the latest [insert team name] is getting inquiries about a trade for [insert player name].
It’s news, but if’s not, that the Eagles are getting phone calls regarding quarterback Carson Wentz, as reported by NFL Media. This time of year, teams make and take calls about a wide range of players who are, who may be, and who aren’t available in trade.
The Eagles plan to eventually create a plan for the quarterback position. Wentz could be reinstalled as the starter. Jalen Hurts could be given the job. Or there could be a true and complete open competition (not the perfunctory “a core value is competition” thing that coach Nick Sirianni recently mentioned).
The Eagles could choose to trade Wentz if someone gives them an offer they won’t refuse. The Eagles also could choose to trade Hurts -- and the Eagles undoubtedly have gotten calls about him, too. (It’s not known whether, in response, they listened or hung up the phone.)
A Wentz trade would wipe out $25.4 million in fully-guaranteed compensation from Philly’s book. A trade before March 19 would avoid another $15 million in full guarantees vesting. That’s $40.4 million that would be shifted to a new team.
A trade also would spark a dead-cap charge of $33.819 million, which is actually lower than the $34.67 million cap charge Wentz currently carries in 2021.
The Eagles have positioned Wentz as a player they want to keep. And maybe they do. If they don’t, acting like they do -- while also making sure it’s publicly known that the phone is ringing -- becomes the best way to get value for Wentz in lieu of giving up a second-round pick to unload Brock Osweiler (like the Texans did in 2017) or two first-round picks and a third-round pick both to get Matthew Stafford and to get rid of Jared Goff (like the Rams will do on March 17).
It’s possible if not likely that giving up Stafford gave the Lions a one and a three -- and that taking Goff gave the Lions a second first-round pick. The Eagles, who seem to think Wentz can recover from a poor 2020, surely wouldn’t trade Wentz unless they get acceptable net value for him. However, they would avoid more than $40 million in guarantees by moving on now. There’s inherent value in that, regardless of what they’d get from Wentz’s new team.
If any real negotiations will happen (specifically with a team like the Colts), it’s important for both sides to keep that dynamic in mind. Indeed, if the Eagles eventually give up Wentz for something significantly less than what the Lions got for Stafford, the Eagles would be quick to point out that, in reality, this was a Goff trade in Stafford clothing.