Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Will Carson Wentz be the Colts' QB? NJ.com's Mike Kaye joins with the latest on Wentz trade negotiations

Episode Date: February 10, 2021

On today's episode, Eagles beat reporter Mike Kaye of NJ.com joins to go in-depth on the latest Carson Wentz trade discussions. First, we go over how Philadelphia and Wentz have ended up in this position. Who's to blame for Wentz wanting out? Did Wentz ever speak to new HC and former Colts OC Nick Sirianni in the last few weeks?Then, we dive into the latest trade talks featuring Kaye's sourced intel. It sounds like it will truly be down to either Chicago or Indy for Wentz, and Philly's leverage is running out fast. The Colts are standing firm on their offer, while Chicago is growing very impatient. What type of trade compensation makes sense between the Colts and Eagles for Wentz?All of this, plus so much more, in a jam-packed episode with insider intel you won't want to miss out on! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello everybody, welcome back to the latest episode of Locked On Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Today's always your host, Evan Satteridge, joined by a very special guest on today's episode, Mike Kay, the Eagles beat reporter for NJ Advanced Media. Mike, how you doing today? I'm well, how about you?

Doing great. I really appreciate you coming on here and shortening us because you've been all over this Carson Wentz news over the past 10 or so days. And let me ask you first off, before we really dive into the Wentz trade talks and negotiations, what's been going on, the latest happenings there. If I would have told you a year ago on this day before the NFL draft happened with the way that Wentz played in 2017, Doug Peterson riding the how at the Super Bowl they had in 2018, who would have thought they'd be at this point, Mike? Did you ever expect this sort of thing to happen with the Eagles organization with how it's gone over the last

year or so? Absolutely not. and anybody who told you this was going to be the thing was either guessing and had it out for somebody on that on that print in that franchise or uh their doctor strange because like i just this is a complete 180 from everything that had happened to this point last year. Carson was coming off, getting the Eagles to the playoffs, winning the NFC East, winning four straight games against the division to win a second division title in three years. He's dealt with a bunch of injuries and obviously he suffered a concussion on that late hit by Jadavion Clowney in the playoff game.

But he also was the first Eagles quarterback to throw for over 4,000 yards in the season in 2019. So this was like all fresh off that. And so, yeah, I mean the drafting of Jalen Hurts was the beginning of the end. A lot of people put the onus on that, but frankly, we're not having any of these discussions if Carson Wentz plays really, really well. You know, Hurts wasn't drafted to be Wentz's successor. He was drafted to be his insurance. And so, you know,

that's still snowballed. And so I think anybody who is predicting this relationship to go toxic is, I mean, you should buy lottery tickets every week. Let me ask you this, Mike, just like we just mentioned there, the relationship with Doug Peterson and Carson Wentz went sour through the season.

The drafting of Jalen Hurts reportedly rubbed Wentz the wrong way. From what you know, like, what happened inside the organization? What happened with Carson Wentz after the Hurts draft pick? And during the season, once he struggled with that, it seemed like Peterson really lost confidence in him and wanted to roll with Jalen Hurts. Where did you find out behind the scenes about that? Well, I think Carson Wentz was a pretty good soldier after the draft pick. While it did irk him, he didn't really kind of lead on

that way. They seemed to get along fine, you know, throughout training camp. Jalen Hurts got very few reps. In fact, he was basically the third string quarterback throughout training camp. Like I tracked him through a whole training camp one day. I mean, you can check it out on mnj.com. Wonderful website, by the way. You know, 92 minutes in the life of Jalen Hurts. I think Jalen Hurts threw the ball like 10 times. And it was like a late summer practice.

So he had a pretty limited offseason. Obviously a lot of quarterbacks struggled with that early on unless they were named Justin Herbert. And then, you know, look, Jalen was inactive for the first week and you know, everything kind of started changing around week two when, you know, the Eagles got off to an 0-2 start. Jalen Hurts was brought in during that week two game and got some decoy snaps.

And they went with this sort of two quarterback light offense for a bit. And look, Wentz didn't play well. Wentz tied the league lead in interceptions with 15 after just playing 12 games. He took the most sacks in the league with 50, despite only playing 12 games. So if you look at Russell Wilson, Russell Wilson's had terrible pass protection for like a decade. He's only been sacked 50 or more times once so like I mean it was just bad and a lot of the sacks were on Wentz the majority of the interceptions were on his decision making at one point as I reported the Eagles literally dumbed down their

offense made it very simplistic very easy to read and Wentz was still making tons of mistakes. He was benched in week 12 – or, sorry, week 13 against the Packers. And, you know, I mean, it was a situation where, you know, Jalen Hurts came in and immediately provided a spark. You could see the energy on the sideline, the energy in the game kind of boosting. And then he took them from there. They beat the Saints, a team that Doug Peterson and the Eagles historically struggled against over the past decade. And, you know, you felt good about that.

There was obviously some growing pains. They would go on to lose their next three, but Hurts showed a lot of promise. And look, I think Doug Peterson, I think there's mixed messaging out there. I don't know how much Doug Peterson lost faith in Cartinson Wentz as much as I think their relationship, they just didn't work well together. And that happens i think uh they couldn't move on with both doug and carson um and a lot of people when doug peterson was

fired took that as the eagle siding with carson wentz uh which on the surface makes a lot of sense it's actually in fact that doug peterson was a little too loyal to his staff, didn't really have a plan, and that's what ultimately led to his dismissal. Carson Wentz still wasn't happy with the fact that, you know, the way this whole went down, you know, and so I think right now there's hurt feelings on both sides, and they're both interested in seeing what's out there. Does it seem like at all at this point, Mike, with all the rumors right now over the last two weeks about Carson Wentz being traded, Wentz after being binged and at the end of the season never really came

out and sent anything to the media afterwards, do you feel like at this point this is repairable at all? Or is this a fractured relationship that's not going to be repaired anytime soon? I think this is a, as you can hear my dog in the background. I think this is a – there's a burnt bridge. I think there's a minute chance that, you know, he's here because you're not going to just trade him to trade him. You're going to want to get a return because you're dropping him

with the biggest dead money hit in NFL history by a mile with 33.8 million. So you have to get some sort of return. This is a guy you've twice invested in, both in trading up to the second overall pick in 2016 and also giving a contract extension too. And they've paid a lot of like the bonus and guaranteed money so it's it's one of those things where I just don't see how I still think they can get a decent return

I just don't think it's going to appease the fan base looking over the Nick Sirianni hire of course the Colts former offensive coordinator Frank Reich's right hand man have you heard behind the scenes at all Mike did Sirianni ever reach out to Carson Wentz? Because I know many have said that you hire Sirianni to kind of repair Carson Wentz and fix him, but do you know of anything behind the scenes about if Sirianni and Wentz ever connected, or was that just did Wentz leave dial tones there?

Yeah, he reached out. They've spoken. I mean, I don't know the gist of those conversations, but they've spoken. I mean, I don't know the gist of those conversations, but they have spoken. Look, I think a lot of people got carried away with, you know, Sirianni just makes everything right. But I think if you're someone who just doesn't like your place of business or isn't in a good place with management, you're not going to want to be there regardless of who your immediate superior is. You know what I mean? So

I don't want to speak for Carson, but the gist that I get is there's a lot that needs to happen for this to work out. And I don't know if all that stuff can happen before the start of the new league year, which is when the Eagles basically need to make a decision because by the third day of the league year, Wentz gets a $10 million payout bonus. And the next season, $15 million becomes guaranteed. So you're looking at $25 million right there and a pretty big cap number moving forward.

So look, I think there is a deadline here, which I think would be March 19th. But every day they wait, they lose leverage in this trade market. Colts fans, rockauto.com is the place to go if you want to save money on your next car purchase, whether it be saving $150-plus on a fuel pump assembly or anything else like tires, oil, lamps, anything along those lines. Rockauto.com always has you covered. They have a great catalog that's unique and remarkably easy to navigate. You can see all the parts available for your vehicle and choose the brand specifications and price you prefer.

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We're covering everything you need to know about the Colts and the latest rumors, but what about the rest of sports? Now the Locked On Podcast Network has you covered there as well with the Locked On Today Podcast. It's hosted by the great Peter Bukowski, and it's all the sports news you need every morning in under 20 minutes. Subscribe to the Locked On Today Podcast or review your podcasts. With Carson Wentz, I mean, in 2017 with Frank Reich as the offensive coordinator, obviously

huge success, 11-2 in 13 games, 33 touchdowns, 7 picks for a tour towards ACL. And as we all know, Nick Foles of the Eagles to a Super Bowl title that year on that match, a playoff run. But then this year in 2020, in 12 games, 15 picks to 16 touchdowns, less than a 60% completion percentage. Who is Carson Wentz, in your opinion, Mike? You've watched him all these years. Is he the 2017 version, the 2020 version, or is he somewhere in the middle of that? I think he's somewhere in the middle, is kind of what 2019 was he started off really well and yeah they went on a four-game winning streak at the end but his best football was at the beginning of the season and then you kind of saw his mechanics fall apart a little bit but he was able to like

wizard his way through stuff um I think you see the mental lapses. I think you see, you know, he's a flawed player, but he's also an extremely athletic and extremely naturally talented player too. I think, you know, you're going to want to coach him hard. You know, the Colts just hired Press Taylor, his QB's coach, his longtime QB's coach. I will tell you that I reported this last month, but, you know, Press and Carson were very, very close to the point where it irked, you know, fellow players and fellow coaches because they viewed Taylor's handling in him

as quote- quote unquote soft. Frank Reich is a guy who kind of knows the temperament of the room. He knows how to lead. And I think press not being directly in charge of Wentz would also be a little bit more appealing. It would change the dynamic there. So, you know, I think there's a lot of comfort in Indianapolis. I think there's a lot of comfort in Indianapolis. I think, I think this is, Indianapolis would be the best spot for him. I don't think it's the best trade partner for the Eagles. Mike K, Eaglesby reporter here for NJ.com,

joining us today on Locked on Colts to talk about Carson Wentz and his latest updates. Let's dive into the trade updates right now. Mike, you've been all over this for the last 10 or so days. What have you heard in the last 24, 48 hours? And they've posted a couple stories over at ng.com. And you can probably link those in the description of today's podcast if you want to go read them as well. What have you heard? What's the latest have reached out but aren't really super motivated to make a deal. They just, they're kind of feeling around the quarterback market. Look, the Colts are interested. I think that's, that's widely accepted around the league. I think it's been reported pretty widely, but Chris Ballard, when he says he's not going to blink, he's not going to blink. I know that other Eagles players have come up in trade talks to maybe make the value a little bit better on the return for Wentz. Look, Frank Reich's got a history with a lot of players on this team,

and look, I can understand why there'd be some appeal you know so that's kind of where they're at um as far as chicago goes they're growing pretty impatient because from what i understand chicago's made a pretty fair offer in their mind they think the eagles are kind of over-evaluating this, you know, this trade market. And in some instances, they kind of feel like they're negotiating against themselves because the cults are really kind of standing firm. Everybody's kind of in like a... Have you ever seen that famous Office episode where they play like the murder mystery thing? And like at the end, Michael and Dwight and Andy are all kind of in a face off,

uh, a finger guns. Like that's kind of what this is. But I, I'll say this. I think Chicago is much more interested in the sense that I get is that Chicago is much more interested in Carson than India is from a value standpoint.

That you mentioned as well. You just mentioned there, the Colts have been consistently in this and have countered with more compensation with the leverage standpoint. I know like you mentioned, the Eagles have really been open to these conversations the last couple of weeks. Do you feel like this has to get done here soon? I mean, like you mentioned has to be done before the league year starts in my opinion.

And I think you agree as well, just cause that, that bonus money, but do you think we're going to see a resolution here soon? Or is this going to be dragging on a lot more? It seemed like we were very close last week before the Super Bowl and now all of a sudden everyone's kind of going back to their corners and waiting out a little bit yeah it seemed like Saturday there was going to be a little bit more resolution the sensor on the league was that something was imminent um and then it just kind of seemed like the eagles kind of wanted to do a little bit more research wait out this move um see if they could you know get every last drop of value um i wouldn't be surprised if it happened this week still uh i had a source who's pretty well placed

who thought he was going to get traded monday or. That obviously didn't happen. That's what led to my second report about why it hadn't happened. But I think the ship has sailed, and I do think that he will inevitably be traded. But look, as the source told me, you know, deadlines spark movement. And like you said, as we get closer and closer to the new league year, they were going to have to make a deal the issue is and i know this for a fact indy's got a lot of potential fallback plans if they don't land carson wentz there are enough assets out there that they're looking into

i think they still really like uh jacoby brissett too so they're not like pressing this is not you guys know you follow the Colts Chris Ballard doesn't blink like he is a guy who is very calculated he knows what he wants he's not going to take something that he doesn't want very smart GM one of the best in the league in my opinion and he's playing this perfectly now from the Chicago standpoint you've got to you know here's the thing if the Colts let's say for example they trade for Sam Darnold just as an example right if they trade for for him then you know for a fact you only have very one very serious contender here in Chicago um that's a problem because then Chicago knows for a fact they're negotiating

against themselves. And you already know the Eagles and Wentz kind of want to move on from each other. What leverage do the Eagles have? And frankly, if I was Chicago and I had to wait it out because the Eagles were constantly shopping my offer, which is presently believed to be the best one they have on the table, I would probably drop my offer because you get all your leverage back. What little leverage the Eagles have right now could dissipate if, let's say,

Indy were to trade for Marcus Mariota or trade for, you know, trying to think of somebody else who they could, Jimmy Garoppolo. You know what I mean? So they're in a spot where the Eagles are kind of chasing against time these cheaper options because you know Mariota might fetch a third round pick Darnold might fetch a pair of day two picks the Eagles want some premium assets in return and frankly with the way Carson Wentz played last year do you maybe want to trade day two picks for Sam Darnold when you know you only need a year left he's 24

and you know you guys you know Reich fancies himself a quarterback whisperer you know so it's one of those things where it's like you know Chris Ballard's in a really good spot where I think he's got a bunch of options. The Eagles, their options are to trade Carson Wentz or keep him. And frankly, keeping him would lead to a really awkward situation. BetOnline is the fastest and easiest way to bet on all your sports action. Football might be over, but NBA, college basketball, and in the NHL are in full swing. BetOnline even covers awards, TV shows, and reality TV. Real-time updated odds and props on almost anything you can imagine. BetOnline has your care for all the news, scores, and odds. It's the best way to place your bets, and it's free to sign up.

Head to their website right now or use your mobile device to sign up today and receive your 50% off welcome bonus through the code LOCKEDON, L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N, with that 50% off welcome bonus for your first deposit. BetOnline, your online sportsbook experts. Wednesdays on LockedOn NFL, take a dive into the future of your favorite NFL franchises. Tony Wiggins of Locked on Jaguars and James Rapine of Locked on Bengals host and are joined by a Locked on draft expert to talk prospects in the upcoming NFL draft and young NFL players fresh in the league.

Did your team have a big rookie performance this week? Or are they shaping up to have a premier draft pick in the 2021 NFL draft? Get everything you need Wednesdays on Locked on NFL. Subscribe to Locked on NFL wherever you get your podcasts. Hypothetically speaking, Mike, like you mentioned in your report last night, that the Colts are wanting more compensation back for Carson Wentz, whether it be picks, players, or singular picker players. On the Eagles roster, I've seen many say maybe Zach Ertz.

You could throw in maybe a Brandon Graham or Derek Barnett. Hypothetically speaking, Mike, who do you think makes sense in that scenario that would be in a package with Carson Wentz if they were to make that trade with Indianapolis? Well, I think when you look at Zach Ertz, his history with Frank Reich, they've been involved together. They've seen, you know, Reich's seen what Ertz and Wentz can do as a duo. I think that makes a lot of sense. The Eagles are going to trade Zach Ertz at some point this offseason.

That's going to happen. The only reason why I think you wouldn't send Ertz with Wentz is you don't want to dilute the value of Ertz. Because if you're trading Wentz, let's say you trade Wentz for the number... Just hypothetically. Let's say you trade him for, excuse me, the Colts second round pick this year and a first round pick next year. Let's just say, right? I don't know what ground Zacharis is going to make up for you. Maybe he's the difference between grabbing the Colts' second-round pick

and grabbing their first-round pick this year, but chances are he isn't. So, like, I don't know if you're diluting your return by trading two assets together or what have you, if that makes sense. Last two questions I have for you, Mike. Appreciate the time, as always. Mike K. Eaglesby, reporter for, Mike. Appreciate the time as always. Mike K equals B reporter for NJ.com joining us today. Does Carson Wentz have any sort of leverage here in this scenario where I've seen a report from Chris Sims of NBC Sports who said that he's heard that

Wentz prefers the Colts over the Bears. You have to think just due to the relationship with Frank Wright, you have Press Taylor over there now as well. Does Wentz hold any leverage here where he could say, I'm not going to go to Chicago and I will do anything it takes to get to Indianapolis? I think that would be a really foolish mistake on his part if he really wants to get out of Philadelphia because what I would do is straight up say, okay, cool. We're just not going to trade you because we're not going to trade you for nothing. They're not going to cut him because that would be $60 million in debt money. They could go after his bonus money. They could go after his bonus money.

They could go after his guarantees. They could make a payback salary. Coming off the worst season of his career, I don't really know what footing he would really have to do that. That said, speaking to people in the league, they're kind of surprised he hasn't tried something to that effect. But I don't get the sense that Howie Roseman is going to bend to Carson Wentz as well. Last one I have for you, Mike.

What do you think here as we reach a crescendo from the Colts standpoint? Do you like Wentz's fit there in Indianapolis compared to other destinations out there for Wentz like Chicago or elsewhere? You have Frank Reich, you have Press Taylor. From a familiarity standpoint, it seems like maybe the best fit for both sides, but obviously compensation and negotiators will have to decide that. Yeah, I mean, I think from a fit standpoint, that's easily the best spot for him. Like I said before, I don't think they're going to end up being

the Eagles' most lucrative trade partner. But I do think, yeah, it's a welcome environment for him. I do think it's kind of funny that the Colts hired the old Eagles offensive coordinator, then the Eagles hired the old Colts offensive coordinator, and there's still going to be a disconnect between Wentz and the organization. Look, I think Frank Reich would love to be reunited with Carson Wentz, but I also think he has options. And I also think he believes in his ability to coach

and get the most out of quarterbacks because he's proven it three straight years with three different quarterbacks. Mike, always appreciate the time here coming on the show today on Short Notice. And you've been all over these Carson Wentz rumors. So Colton, if you're not already, go follow Mike on Twitter at Mike underscore E underscore K. Go read his work over at ng.com to follow the latest in the carson wentz rumors and also some great build-up to eagles content as well mike really appreciate the time today sure thing thanks for having me