More Wentz personality issues led to latest trade: report originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Carson Wentz was shipped from the Colts to the Commanders on Wednesday, the quarterback’s second trade in 13 months and an indictment of where his once-promising career now stands.
The former Eagles quarterback was ticketed for the NFL’s MVP award in 2017 before his ACL tear, and in the years following that injury both his game and his reputation took repeated hits.
Initial reports of Wentz’s abrasive personality and lack of leadership skills were treated with skepticism in Philly, but eventually the noise grew too loud – and now it seems Wentz’s departure from Indy was thanks at least in part to the same problems.
MORE: Colts trade Carson Wentz to Commanders, back into NFC East
A new report Wednesday from The Athletic’s Colts insider Zak Keefer includes information from multiple sources close to the Colts’ organization about why the Wentz era failed, and a lot of the info will sound extremely familiar to Eagles fans.
Here are some key excerpts from Keefer’s reporting:
“Truth be told, some inside the Indianapolis Colts’ West 56th Street facility were finished with the Carson Wentz experiment long before the team’s late-season collapse, according to several recent conversations with sources inside the organization.
“[…]
“As for the Colts, the issues with Wentz stretched back to before the season began, one source said, and over the course of the year, some grew frustrated at what they deemed a lack of leadership, a resistance to hard coaching and a reckless style of play, which had a role in several close losses this year.
“[…]
“What was missing, some within the team believe, was the type of direction the Colts got from the quarterback position in recent years, namely with Andrew Luck, Philip Rivers and even Jacoby Brissett, who despite struggling late in the 2019 season remained a deeply respected voice within the locker room.
“In other words, with a QB in place besides Wentz, some believe, the gutting late-season collapse the Colts suffered would have never happened.”
Yep, that all sounds about right to Birds fans who suffered through the anonymous 2019 teammate leaks, the ugly 2020 season, and Wentz’s ensuing preference to be traded after he was benched for Jalen Hurts.
The guy possesses (or possessed, anyway) unique physical abilities that made him, briefly, a transcendent NFL quarterback, which is great. But it sure sounds like he’s a nightmare in the locker room and in coaching sessions.
And now that Wentz can no longer conjure the magic he once did on a football field, the resistance to hard coaching – something we heard about his time in Philadelphia, along with the underwhelming leadership – is probably rubbing most folks the wrong way.
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Wentz’s is such a staggering fall from grace. He was once viewed as the guy in Philly for the next decade, voted the third-best player in the league by peers, and given a nine-figure salary.
Now he’s on his third team in 13 months and he’ll probably have to prove himself in training camp to even earn the starting job.
Maybe Wentz will finally learn something after things deteriorated the same way in a second place. Or maybe this is who he is, and Washington is in for some choppy waters.
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