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The Trade:
The Philadelphia Eagles trade QB Carson Wentz to the Indianapolis Colts for a 2021 third-round draft pick and a conditional 2022 second-round draft pick.
- The second-round pick becomes a first-rounder if Wentz plays 75% of the snaps or 70% AND the Colts make the playoffs.
- The Eagles will take on $33.8M in dead-money cap penalties in 2021.
Reality Football:
For the Colts, this is a fantastic deal, despite what many Wentz critics have to say. Has he struggled with injuries? Yes. But going from Philip Rivers to Wentz isn’t a huge change in style, the team doesn’t have to go back to Jacoby Brissett and they certainly don’t have to fish in a QB pond that, outside of trading for Deshaun Watson , looked pretty bleak. They get an established player with strong NFL experience which allows them to focus their offseason attention on other pressing needs.
There is also no concern over Wentz learning a new offense. He and head coach Frank Reich are very familiar with each other dating back to Reich’s tenure as the Eagles offensive coordinator. Nick Foles may have been the Super Bowl darling in 2017, but let’s not forget that Wentz still threw for almost 3,300 yards with a 33:7 TD:INT over 13 games that season. Wentz knows Reich’s system inside and out, including the language, which means the offense doesn’t really skip a beat.
In addition to that, Wentz gets to play behind an offensive line that is vastly superior to the one he’s played behind in Philly over the last two seasons. According to Pro Football Focus, the Colts finished with the seventh-best offensive line, ranking seventh in pass-blocking and third in run-blocking. That’s a dramatic improvement to the Eagles line which ranked 19th overall and lived or died based on whether veteran Jason Peters was healthy enough to play. The Eagles line allowed a league-high 65 sacks to just 21 allowed by the Colts’ line.
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As for weapons, it’s close. The Eagles receiving corps was decimated by injuries last season and both Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert missed five games each. The Colts at least got through the majority of the season with T.Y. Hilton and Michael Pittman, as well as a full year from Zach Pascal . Looking to 2021, both teams need to improve at the receiver position. The Eagles have the second-least amount of cap room to play with while the Colts have the second-most. Who do you think stands the better chance at improving this season?
For the Eagles, this is all about rebuilding. They are in serious trouble with the salary cap, their offensive line needs major help and they have a bevy of needs on both offense and defense they need to address. Offensively, they have a solid core-group with QB Jalen Hurts, RB Miles Sanders, WR Jalen Reagor and TE Dallas Goedert , but with so much else to fix, it’s going to take at least a year or two to get back to where they were a few years ago. New head coach Nick Sirianni has his work cut out for him this year and it wouldn’t come as much of a surprise if his tenure was a short one – another positive for those wondering if this was a good move for Wentz.
Fantasy Football:
Load me up with Colts, please. I will happily draft Wentz in this offense, especially if they can continue to improve upon the surrounding weapons. Jonathan Taylor looks like he should be an elite running back for a few seasons, barring any health issues, and that should help alleviate some of the pressure on Wentz here in a new city. Pittman is the receiver who, I think, gets the biggest bump in value. He’s got great size, solid speed and good hands. With one year in the NFL under his belt, he should be able to make the necessary adjustments in the offseason and continue to build upon his rookie year success. We’ll see what happens with the rest of the team this offseason as Hilton is a free agent, Parris Campbell still needs some work and Jack Doyle is getting a little long in the tooth. Again, there is a lot to work with this offseason so you have to think that, with an already strong defense, the team can afford to bring in a few more established weapons for their new gunslinger.
For the Eagles, Hurts and Sanders are likely to be my biggest targets. Goedert should also factor in, but he’s never going to be at that Travis Kelce level, so it’s not like a reach is anything I really want to do. I’m not in love with Sirianni as the new head coach and it’s going to be totally different offense from what he was running in Indianapolis a year ago. Expect a lot of read-option and gimmicky stuff given Hurts’ skill-set and the penchant for first-time coaches to “dazzle” the opposition with a lot of pre-snap movement and misdirection.
From a fantasy standpoint, both teams have their merits. Neither club is elevating to that of the Chiefs, nor is anyone looking like the 2020 Jets. There is still a lot to witness here in the draft and the offseason, but for now, the lean is towards the Colts as the better fantasy pond in which to fish.
Player News
Panthers released TE Jordan Matthews.
Matthews converted to tight end a few years ago and hasn’t made much noise at the position. The change has, however, likely kept him in the league for a few more seasons. He appeared in four games with the Panthers last year but didn’t record any stats on offense. The Panthers also released or waived WR Dax Milne, C Andrew Raym, and TE Colin Granger.
Dolphins released LS Blake Ferguson.
The team also waived CB Ryan Cooper Jr., DT Neil Farrell and OL Chasen Hines. Ferguson has been the team’s long snapper for five seasons and earned a three-year contract extension just before the 2023 season. He should be able to find work snapping footballs farther than the average snap elsewhere in the league.
DetroitLions.com’s Tim Twentyman believes rookie WR Isaac TeSlaa “could make his earliest impact on special teams.”
It’s not much of a surprise, as most rookies cut their teeth with special teams duties. Twentyman mentioned return duties as a possibility, though the former Razorback never returned kicks or punts in college. At 6'4/212 with 4.43 wheels, TeSlaa is an explosive athlete who never translated his physical traits to on-field production at Arkansas. The Lions clearly saw potential for him to do so in the pros and traded two future third-round picks to move up to No. 70 overall for him. It’s going to be a slow burn for TeSlaa in the pros, making him a dynasty-only fantasy option.
Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said the team does not “have any feelings on competition” when asked about the quarterback room.
O’Connell was asked about a potential quarterback competition on the Rich Eisen Show Wednesday and was unclear on whether J.J. McCarthy would have to compete to start. He said, “we’ve got an obligation as coaches to put our players in position to attack that competition phase.” O’Connell discussed first putting Brett Rypien and the newly acquired Sam Howell in a position to play before any competition would occur. He continued that McCarthy is “owning it” this offseason and is taking snaps from starting center Ryan Kelly. After missing last season with a torn meniscus, McCarthy has been ramping up workouts in the offseason and is the front-runner to start for the Vikings in 2025. As of now, Howell looks to be reinforcement at the backup spot in case it turns out McCarthy is not ready to start.
Texans re-signed DT Foley Fatukasi.
Fatukasi initially joined the Texans last offseason on a one-year contract. The 30-year-old was a rotational defensive lineman, tallying four tackles for loss and one sack. He returns to Houston for 2025, where he will be a part of a deep Texans front seven.
NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reports Tyreek Hill’s second wrist surgery was part of the original plan and his timeline remains unchanged.
Hill announced the second surgery on social media and Pelissero quickly added some context to the situation. The speedy receiver suffered the wrist injury just before the start of the season and it lingered throughout the year, though he never missed a game because of it. If the second surgery truly is a non-story, an offseason to recover might be what Hill needs to return to form after a down 2024 season. On the other hand, Hill is 31 years old, played his worst football last year, and his offense prioritized targets for Jonnu Smith and De’Von Achane. As it stands, Hill might have the highest risk-reward split in fantasy drafts.