The Philadelphia Eagles are on the verge of playing in the second Super Bowl in five years Sunday. Philadelphia won the Super Bowl five years ago by defeating the New England Patriots and Tom Brady 41-33 to secure the first Super Bowl title in franchise history.
The man primarily responsible for both of those Super Bowl appearances is general manager Howie Roseman. Roseman built the 2017 Eagles into a championship team behind the No. 2 overall pick in the 2016 NFL draft, Carson Wentz.
Unfortunately, Wentz’s MVP-level season ended prematurely in 2017 due to a knee injury. The good news is Roseman had a quality backup in Nick Foles.
The rest is history.
The Eagles selected Jalen Hurts in the second round of the 2021 NFL draft, and Wentz was none too pleased. Roseman’s plan was not for Hurts to unseat Wentz but to have depth in case of Wentz’s injuries.
“We were making sure that we had depth there,” Roseman said, per Kevin Manahan of NJ.com. “We had played, at that time, six playoff games. And Carson had played a total of 12 snaps in those games.”
Ultimately, things ended disastrously for Wentz in Philadelphia. Head coach Doug Pederson was fired after the 2020 season, and Wentz was traded to the Indianapolis Colts, where he reunited with former offensive coordinator Frank Reich. That didn’t last, as owner Jim Irsay couldn’t wait to rid his organization of Wentz.
“The league is a competitive league. If you’re worried — if you have players that are worried about competition …” Roseman said per the Inquirer. “Look, you have to be really good to start in this league. If you’re worried [that] we’re bringing in depth and talent, you’re probably not the right guy at that position.”
Ouch.
As Roseman prepares for the Super Bowl, he couldn’t help but take one more shot at his former quarterback. For what it’s worth, Roseman is not wrong. The timing is a bit curious. It makes you wonder why Roseman even bothered to greet Wentz before Philadelphia’s Week 3 game at Washington in September.
With three teams giving up on him in three years, you’d be fair to question what’s next for Wentz.