Getty Eagles quarterbacks Carson Wentz, Nate Sudfeld and Jalen Hurts get some work in at practice.
It’s a mess. That was the succinct way that ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio summed up the quarterback situation for the Philadelphia Eagles. They are caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to stacking their deck of cards with Carson Wentz — and not overplaying their hand in a trade.
That is assuming they even have a hand to play. Many have been pointing to the recently completed Lions-Rams trade for inspiration, the one that packaged Jared Goff and a king’s ransom of draft picks for Matthew Stafford. If that kind of scenario played itself out in Philly, they would have to put Eagles GM Howie Roseman in the witness protection program.
Sal Paolantonio today on ESPN: “#Eagles got rid of Doug Pederson, who beat Bill Belichick in Super Bowl with backup QB when Tom Brady threw for 505 yards and they kept so far, kept so far in quotes, underline, italicized, Carson Wentz who could still be in available in a trade.”
No, the more likely outcome is Wentz fights for the job with Jalen Hurts during an open competition at training camp. Here is what Paolantonio — a very plugged-in Philly reporter — had to say about the situation, specifically the chance of a trade:
I think there’s a very slim chance. I know there’s a lot of reporting on both sides of this. But right now, I think Howie Roseman, Jeffrey Lurie believe that Carson Wentz is ‘fixable.’ That’s why they hired Nick Sirianni. Jeffrey Lurie has said as much publicly and privately in Philadelphia and so has Howie Roseman. They want to try to fix Carson Wentz and they want to try to make Jalen Hurts work. They’re going to have a quarterback competition, but if the right deal comes along, if the right deal comes along, you could see them trading one or the other in order to clear the decks so they don’t have this quarterback quagmire that goes throughout the spring and into the summer and throughout training camp, because right now, it’s a mess.
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Jalen Mills Talks QB Competition in Philly
The overriding wisdom dictates an open competition is the best way to pick the quarterback. Wentz has refused to speak to the media while Hurts has embraced any competitive situation he’s placed in by putting “my best foot forward.”
It’s the offseason so tracking down players can be a hard thing to do, but Jalen Mills expressed support for a quarterback competition on Tuesday in comments to CBS Sports HQ. He praised Wentz as a “fiery competitor” who would probably thrive under the pressure.
“You got a guy like Carson who’s been there. We know he didn’t play up to that level this year,” Mills said, via CBS Sports. “Wentz is a fiery competitor. He wants to be perfect at everything he does. Hurts had a really, really good rookie year. He wins everywhere he goes. But I think you let those guys battle it out in camp.”
Who starts for the Eagles next season: Carson Wentz or Jalen Hurts?
“You let those guys battle it out during camp and whoever is the best man, that’s the guy who will be the starter for Day 1.”
Mills, who played on a one-year deal in 2020, also talked about his own future. The former seventh-round pick out of LSU wants to return to Philly in 2021 and compete for another Super Bowl. He recorded a career-high 74 tackles and five quarterback hits in 15 games for the Eagles last season.
“I’m the green goblin! I love it in Philadelphia,” Mills said. “I won a Super Bowl with them.”
Always in the business of proving somebody wrong but only if the situation presents itself
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