When the Eagles traded quarterback Carson Wentz to Indianapolis, they hoped to get a first-round draft pick back. That is now looking less likely.
Under the terms of the trade, the Eagles need Wentz to stay healthy and play a lot for them to get the Colts’ 2022 first-round pick. With Wentz out a reported 5-12 weeks with a foot injury, that’s going to be hard.
The specifics of the trade are that the Eagles get the Colts’ first-round pick if Wentz takes at least 75 percent of the Colts’ offensive snaps, or if Wentz takes at least 70 percent of the Colts’ offensive snaps and the Colts make the playoffs.
If Wentz misses a full 12 weeks after surgery, that would mean he would miss the Colts’ first seven games. That’s more than 40 percent of the season, so even if Wentz played every snap after that and the Colts made the playoffs, he wouldn’t play enough to give the Eagles a first-round pick.
If Wentz only misses five weeks, he can still come back and play for the Colts in Week One. So it’s still entirely possible that Wentz will play 75 percent of the Colts’ offensive snaps, or even that he’ll play 100 percent of the Colts’ offensive snaps, and that the Eagles will get a first-round pick.
But given Wentz’s history, the Eagles can’t count on him staying healthy. Wentz just gets hurt a lot, going back to his senior season at North Dakota State, when he missed eight weeks with a broken wrist, and continuing through his NFL career.
The good news for the Eagles is that they’re in outstanding shape in the 2022 NFL draft. In addition to either the Colts’ first- or second-round pick, the Eagles have all their own picks, the Dolphins’ first-round pick and Washington’s fifth-round pick. They’ll have a bounty of picks regardless, but they’re hoping a healthy Wentz adds to that bounty.
Carson Wentz injury is bad news for Eagles originally appeared on Pro Football Talk