One of the more compelling storylines of the 2022 NFL season is new Washington Commanders quarterback Carson Wentz returning to Philadelphia to play the team that drafted him in 2016.
Washington will also play at Indianapolis sometime in 2022, the team that traded Wentz to the Commanders.
Considering how Wentz’s time with each of those times ended, his three meetings against his former teams, especially the two road games, should rank among the NFL’s top “revenge” games for 2022. Adam Rank of NFL.com recently took a look at some of the top revenge games for 2022, and Wentz’s games against the Eagles made the cut.
Wentz was a leading NFL MVP candidate before he blew out his knee against the Rams back in December of 2017. Can we pause for a moment to reflect on the fact that this was four-plus years ago? (Or two Tom Brady rings ago.) Wild to think about where Wentz has gone from there — and where he is now, a member of the rival Commanders. These two bouts against the Eagles are going to be saucy.
While there will be plenty of intrigue with Wentz’s return to Indianapolis, much of that will depend on when the game is scheduled. If it is in the middle of the season or toward the end, Colts fans will be comparing Wentz and Matt Ryan. Otherwise, an early-season game shouldn’t present too many emotions for Wentz in Indy, considering he only spent one season there.
However, things are much different with the Eagles. While many negative things were said about Wentz after the Colts agreed to trade him to Washington, it was much worse when Philadelphia shipped Wentz to Indianapolis.
Now, Wentz is back in the NFC East against the team where he spent the first five seasons of his NFL career. Wentz was beloved at one point in Philly, so it will be interesting to see how he’s treated as Washington’s new quarterback. Wentz wouldn’t expect a warm reaction.
If you ask anyone how they believe Wentz’s time in Washington will end, almost universally, everyone expects it to end much the same as his previous two stops.
It’s almost unfair. However, Wentz is the one person who can change that narrative by playing well and leading the Commanders back to the playoffs — and picking up wins over each of his former teams.