The Colts have agreed to trade Carson Wentz to the Washington Commanders (Twitter link via Adam Schefter of ESPN.com). In exchange, the Commanders will send their 2022 third-round pick and their 2023 third-round pick to the Colts. The ’23 third-rounder can also convert to a second-round choice if Wentz plays on 70% of Washington’s snaps in 2022. The deal will also see a swap of second-round picks with the Colts moving from No. 47 to No. 42. Schefter adds that the Commanders are also receiving the Colts’ 2022 seventh-round pick (Twitter link).
[RELATED: Details On Commanders’ Offer For Russell Wilson]
Colts GM Chris Ballard recently indicated that he was “still working through” the Wentz situation with head coach Frank Reich and owner Jim Irsay. Ultimately, following Tuesday’s Russell Wilson blockbuster, they’ve chosen to move their own starter and reshape the quarterback position. The Colts — who already had about $37MM in available cap room — have carved out even more space by trading Wentz.
“When we made the decision, after Philip [Rivers] retired and we made the decision to make a move on Carson, at the time of the decision we felt good about it and I still don’t regret the decision at the time,” Ballard said in January. “Sitting here today, just so y’all know, I won’t make a comment on who is going to be here next year and who is not going to be here next year. That’s not fair to any player.”
The QB was widely panned for his Week 18 performance against the Jaguars, the loss that cost the Colts a playoff berth. He also clashed with team brass throughout the year and even rankled Irsay. Still, despite all the issues, Wentz managed to finish the year with a 27-7 TD-INT ratio while placing ninth in league-wide QBR.
The Commanders were previously linked to Wilson and said to have interest in 49ers signal caller Jimmy Garoppolo. Ultimately, they didn’t want to wait on the Niners, choosing instead to pivot to Wentz. (The Colts, meanwhile, could consider Jimmy G as their next QB, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.)
Wentz, 30 in December, may be a consolation prize, but he’s still a strong pickup Ron Rivera & Co. They’ll have Wentz under contract at a $22MM salary this year with a $6.294MM roster bonus. After that, they’ve got him for two more seasons. In 2023, he’s due $20MM in salary with a $6.176MM roster bonus. In 2024, that salary increases to $21MM with a $6.235MM bonus payout.
The Colts will now move on to their fifth starting quarterback in Ballard’s sixth year at the helm. So far, they’ve gone through Jacoby Brissett, Andrew Luck, Rivers, and Wentz — none of those players served as the primary starter in back-to-back seasons. Now, Wentz is out less than one year after his arrival in Indianapolis.
As noted by ESPN.com’s Field Yates (on Twitter), the Colts sent a 2021 third-round pick and a 2022 first-round choice to the Eagles for Wentz. The Colts now have one rocky year and significantly less draft capital to show for it. The Eagles, meanwhile, went on to parlay the third-rounder into a trade up for DeVonta Smith, and they’re still set to pick at No. 16 overall in April.
How much did the colts give up for wentz before?
A third last year and what turned out to be a first this year.
Lol. Imagine how little he’ll be traded for next offseason.
A bucket of KFC?
Cannot think of many QBs who did more with less last year than Carson Wentz. Seemed like the only help he had on offense were Jonathan Taylor and Michael Pittman.
Colts definitely seem to be overreacting to how things ended last year and it may wind up biting them in the butt if they can’t find a QB.
Carson Wentz didn’t lose all eight games by himself last year.
He wasn’t asked to do all that much and he still couldn’t do enough. He had the fewest pass attempts of any QB who played 17 games (and fewer than several who only played fewer). His yards per attempt were among the lowest, as was his completion percentage. All of that with a very good offensive line and excellent run game. I think his targets would look better with a QB they trusted (and who was worthy of that trust). At best, he operated the offense. He never elevated it.
Yeah, who wants a QB that ranked 9th in QBR in the entire league anyways. Nobody needs a good QB these days.
He did what he was asked to do and did it very well based on metrics we use to judge QBs.
Scoring
Turnovers
Passer Rating
Among others
Giving him away because of one game isn’t the smartest decision.
QBR is not a good way to judge QBs.
Which is why I included other countable stats we use to judge QBs performance in addition to QBR.
Did you edit it after I responded? I only saw QBR. But also, they got a lot of those things down by simplifying the offense. He turned over the ball less because he wasn’t attempting all that many passes and they weren’t letting him take too many chances. So he didn’t make many big plays while also not being one of the more accurate QBs in football. He wasn’t a top 15 starter with a good supporting cast.
Good supporting cast.
A running back and a receiver with a good offensive line.
A great bellcow running back, a very good receiving back, a solid tight end room, one very good receiver, a very good offensive line. It’s not like he’s on his way to a better situation.
Hines only caught 310 yards last year. Taylor had more yards than Hines 360 vs 310 in 17 games. That’s about 20 yards a game.
Allie Cox and Doyle aren’t a solid TE room. Combine they had about 600 yards. Combined.
So yes a very good running back. A good receiver. A good offensive line.
Hines is a very good third down back who had Carson Wentz throwing to him. You’re only judging these guys on numbers that the QB also affected.
Hines has had 425 yards, 320 yards, 482 yards, 310 yards.
QB isn’t the issue there.
Last three years Doyle has had 448 yards, 251 yards, 302 yards.
QB isnt the issue there. He only played 6 games four years ago.
Last three years Allie Cox has had 93 yards, 394 yards, 316 yards
QB isnt the issue there. He only played 9 games as a rookie.
All three were right around what they’ve done in recent memory with different QBs at the helm.
Good points in Wentz did what he needed to do most games and manager it. Funny how you can trash his attempts. If he is throwing more then the colts aren’t winning. Then Taylor wouldn’t have the yards he did and be an mvp candidate. Eric fisher graded pretty high. Funny how they weren’t excited to resign him and his pass blocking grade was horrible. His run blocking is why he was ranked higher. Next point to make was Pittman Jr. wasn’t expected to be a number one. It two. Injuries to Hilton and Campbell helped break him out. 2020 was a disaster for the eagles. 15 out of 16 games they had a different line combination. That isn’t good did any team. Double digit ints. Low ints the other 5 years for Wentz. He’s not allowed a bad season? He also helped them to the plays in 2019 with practice squad receivers. Last point. It’s a good one!
Who lost the ravens game? Wentz? Fourth quarter two drives with missed field goals and the defense allowed 2 td with 2 point conversions. Then the ravens scored the td in ot game over. Wentz did that?
It’s a team game. So that game turns into a win…they make the playoffs. 10-7 makes the playoffs.
You seem to be arguing that the Colts didn’t let him become a good QB. His QBR speaks for itself.
Among other problems, QBR over-rewards QBs for simply not making mistakes. They baby-proofed much of what they asked him to do, because his turnover problems had been so extreme the year before. But at some point, you need your QB to actually go and win a game.
Or have you defense step up when you do score points. That also wins games. You know, when you score more points than your opponent.
Why was it JUST Wentz who needed to step up exactly? Cause there were plenty of games his defense pooped the bed.
Bucs 38 – Colts 31
Ravens 31 – Colts 25
Titans 34 – Colts 31
Raiders 23 – Colts 20
Rams 27 – Colts 24
Indy gave up the 11th fewest points per game last year. You’re cherry picking and getting the logic backwards. They went 1-7 in games where the other team scored 25 or more. They lost when their defense and run game couldn’t win it for them.
Almost like it is a team sport and not just one man’s job to go win games.
There’s 17 of them. Saying Colts needed Wentz to step up and go win a game is silly especially when you don’t think or suggest defense needed to step up and secure wins before the last game of the season.
Almost like the most important position in all of team sports is expected to step up sometimes. The defense stepped up plenty of times. You like using yards? Wentz threw for over 300 yards TWICE this season. The only starters who threw for fewer yards per game were rookies and Tua. Wentz was 28 and making more than $20 million. He’s good enough to start in this league, but teams that want to contend need to set their sights higher.
Wasn’t your whole argument Wentz wasn’t asked to do much and now you want to criticize him for not doing much……. because he wasn’t asked to based on YOUR own argument, remember?
You can’t have it both ways.
You can’t argue he wasn’t asked to do much then knock him for his stats when YOU flat out said he wasn’t asked to do much……
Literally the first line of your first response remember
“He wasn’t asked to do all that much…..”
Oh, and maybe they’d ask him to do more if he had a better supporting cast than one running back, one receiver, and a good offensive line. Just a thought.
But in those games where the defense couldn’t contain the other team, they needed him to do more and he couldn’t.
He averaged 36.875 passing attempts when they allowed 25 or more points. He averaged 24.555 attempts in games where they allowed fewer. They only unleashed him when they needed to pass to win, and they went 1-7 in those games. They couldn’t win when they had to pass to win. They were carried by their running game and defense.
Washington. That’s who wants a QB ranked 9th in QBR anyways. And just Washington.
That’s who gave them the best deal which looks like two 3rd rounders (one that can become a 2nd) and a pick swap in the 2nd.
That doesn’t mean other teams weren’t interested.
stats are like bikinis, they show you a lot, but they dont show you everything.
I’m very concerned about anyone who would try to visualize Carson Wentz in a bikini.
Have an open mind
The 3rd round pick the Colts sent the Eagles who sent it to the Cowboys became Chauncey Gholston if anyone was curious like me.
Well now I am. Totally didn’t remember them using that pick to jump the Giants for Smith.
‘The only help he had on offense (was) Jonathan Taylor and Michael Pittman”.
That, and a fantastic offensive line, is a whole lot more help than many other quarterbacks get.
I should add that I don’t at all think Wentz is the only one to blame for last year’s failures. But I also don’t blame Indy for deciding to cut bait on him either. And like it or not, regardless of politics or personal preference, Wentz essentially chose to butt heads with the owner over his vaccination status. You can think Irsay is a drunk lunatic if you want, and you might be right, but he’s still the owner. If he sets expectations and you don’t meet them for whatever reason, expect consequences.
Not to take anything away from his offensive line, but it doesn’t matter how much time or protection a QB has if he doesn’t have receivers getting separation, which Wentz didn’t. #2 receiver was an issue in Indy all season.
His three leading receivers were
Michael Pittman 1,082 yards
Zach Pascal 384 yards
Jonathan Taylor 360 yards
Why are total yards the receivers’ fault and not the QB’s? They didn’t trust him to throw that much or throw that deep. That’s telling. And really good QBs elevate their weapons more than Wentz did.
You’re not totally wrong here at all. Hilton’s injury was huge and they didn’t have a good contingency plan. I thought Reich’s play calling at times was horrendous; as dominant as Taylor was, there were still games that he should have been fed the rock a lot more.
But there were at least a couple of games where Wentz flat out blew it, or was at least a major factor in blowing it. When you make the money he does, in a quarterback-driven league, you are often going to be the fall guy when things don’t go well. And that’s especially true if you’re already having disagreements with the coach and/or owner.
If you’re going to judge everything by yards, then how come the tattered remains of Philip Rivers threw for more yards with the same supporting cast, only with the two best weapons as rookies? And again, Wentz is going to a worse supporting cast, so if he couldn’t elevate this one, what’s he going to do there?
I have no clue how you can say he did more with less considering he had the league’s leading rusher (by yards and touchdowns) on his team.
This whole thing could have been avoided had he played better the last two weeks. If they don’t absolutely crap the bed, they’re in the playoffs and he doesn’t get traded. Yes, he doesn’t deserve all the blame, but you’re the dang QB. Figure out a way to beat the worst team in the league.
The whole team needed to play better the last 2 games. He was one piece of a team collapse. He had nothing to do with the Jags moving the ball all day against that defense.
They lost 8 games. Why is it Wentz’s fault for two games but the other six games nobody mentions?
Optics. You have to win one of the final two games, one against the worst team in the league. It’s a QB-driven league, for better or worse, so he gets the blame.
None of this gets talked about to the level that it has if they make the playoffs.
Yep. They spent most of the year asking Wentz to just not lose games. Less passing, less risk taking. When they needed him to go win a game, he couldn’t. Not saying that’s the end all, be all. But it sure looks terrible, especially against the most disastrous team in football.
Oh Boy, Wentz should get the blame for more than the 2 losses and he certainly doesn’t get credit for the 9 wins. Not sure if you watch Colts games or not but he doesn’t have many highlights. He had a few good games and his year end counting stats are favorable, but the other side of the coin is more telling. Missing wide open receivers weekly, at least 15 would be int’s that were miraculously dropped, the dopey left handed throws, and much more. Fact is he just didn’t cut it.
@oh boy you can only put him in his place so many times. It’s a great trade for Washington who were in need of a qb
I hope you really do stomp a mud hole through KO and walk it dry
Did Austin agree to the match ? Haven’t really watched since Michael cole was getting a big push
Dude he stinks
The Colts had arguably the best O line in football. Best running game and top 10 defense and an emerging young WR yet still couldn’t get to the playoffs. And that falls on Wentz. He totally messed up the colts season. Kudos to Irsay the coach and GM for cutting bait with a mediocre QB
And none of them- the OLine, Jonathan Taylor, top 10 defense or emerging WRs showed up against the Jags. They totally blew it as a team.
More with less? Colts have a good OL, Pittman may end up being a top of the line WR, and Johnathan Taylor was the best RB in the league. And they went 9-8. I don’t think he’s as bad as he’s portrayed, but let’s not act like Wentz did it all himself.
Another exciting offseason for DC fans! That’ll change mock drafts.
At least the Commandeers didn’t settle after failing to get Russel Wilson.
What do the commanders have to lose?
I think this is a great trade for them. Two thirds aren’t a ton for a legit starting QB
I honestly feel like the colts have more to lose. Word is they are in on Garrapolo. Wonder what it takes to get him. More than 2 thirds I’d think.
Saw the updated return. Commanders also move down a few slots in the second round. Nothing crazy
And next years 3rd rounder can convert to a 2nd if wentz plays 70% of snaps. I believe that’s the same percentage the eagles set last year for the 2nd to convert for a 1st.
The biggest factor is that the colts are shedding a boatload money in this deal. They have a lot of cap space now especially for a solid team. I thought there was no way the colts wouldn’t eat at least 25% of wentz’s salary. I’ve been pleasantly surprised.
I just read $70 million in cap space – most in the league. If only there were a big name QB on the market.
Pssst. Kirk Cousins at cost….
Well, I guess that technically this trade constitutes “working through the Wentz situation”… they’re just working him through a one-way trip out of town.
Dang, the list for Lynch to trade Jimmy to didn’t necessarily get shorter, but Washington was where I thought he would go…
Maybe, now, he goes to Indy?? It sounds like Indy definitely has a plan where they are turning to next, and they could see the 49ers as a blueprint for their own success..
Team lead by their running game, with a good defense, and Jimmy comes in and instantly takes them to the playoffs…
Lynch cannot take too long though, otherwise he will run out of options..
Indy, Carolina, Pittsburgh, and New Orleans all have big question marks at QB. Still a few chairs left.
Tampa too
Yep. And I forgot Seattle, but I can’t imagine them being the Jimmy G landing spot.
Lynch may not have a choice in waiting because I’ll bet teams might want to wait to see how quickly Jimmy’s arm is healing from his recent surgery.
Maybe he can hold onto Jimmy until he’s fully recovered then trade him mid season for a bigger haul to a desperate contender or for a similar haul to a team that just needs a qb
I like Jimmy Garappolo, and I don’t think Wentz is the devil’s spawn that most fans seem to, but giving up Wentz for Garappolo does not seem like a massive change production wise. Perhaps Wentz’s injuries helped to limit his play (well, they certainly did in the first part of the year), but Garappolo has injury concerns of his own.
In my mind, I’m not sure that there is an enormous leap from Wentz to Garappolo.
The Commies are coming!! The Commies are coming!!!
Should be an NFT of them raging out of a dumpster fire with Snyder on top wearing an Indian headdress and face paint.
yo Slay gonna slay him.
Finally! The colts did the smart thing. Hopefully they can get another QB who can lead them into the playoffs
I can see getting rid of him for butting heads with higher ups but they were 1 game from the playoffs with a new QB. I’m not sure bringing in another new QB is going to change much, and even if they go get say Jimmy G they’ll basically be giving back most of what they got in this trade. Most likely going to waste a year of JT in his prime and get them the same results as last year.
Unless they flat out love one of the young QBs already onboard I would’ve had to run it back at least one more time with Wentz. He isn’t the best QB, but he did what they asked of him. He wasn’t as efficient as they may have hoped, but again it was his first year with them and when you’re not being asked to throw a ton it is hard to get in a rhythm. They have cash & everything but their 1st this year. Go get another WR/TE weapon via FA or the draft (maybe both), address LT with Fisher most likely gone, and some upgrades on defense via FA & draft and try to make a run.
For what Washington had to give up, as compared to Indy’s cost to obtain him from Philly, the Commanders made a very good trade, cap considerations aside.
Indy made a very bad trade in getting Wentz, but they ended up getting something here. That’s better than releasing him and getting nothing.
Washington has to pay him $28 million this year, though.
Yeah, they have to pay the $5 million roster bonus because he’s on the Washington roster before the March 16 deadline. Otherwise, Indy would have been on the hook for it.
If Wentz stays healthy next year, the Colts will have traded #1 & #3 for one year of Wentz, #2 & #3.
If his biggest fan, Frank Reich, apparently didn’t want Wentz anymore that says something.
Wentz is broken. And he isn’t likely to regain his mojo in DC, as their offense stinks.
What a steal for Washington. And that’s the bottom line cause stone cold said so
Wentz 3:16 says that I just whooped your draft
This is about what
You’d expect for Jimmy G
Jimmy G will get you at least one playoff win. Do it
Theismann, RG3 and Alex Smith will congratulate Wentz on joining Washington with a tweet saying “break a leg”.
Why?