Carson Wentz has no interest in backing up Jalen Hurts next year, according to a report by ESPN’s Adam Schefter Sunday morning.
Schefter quoted sources as saying Wentz is “not pleased with the way things have unfolded this year” and that if Jalen Hurts remains the starter in 2021 he doesn’t want to be here.
Doug Pederson benched Wentz in the third quarter of the Packers game for Hurts, the rookie second-round pick. Hurts played well enough to earn his first NFL start and played well in an upset win over the Saints, who had won nine straight games and had the NFL’s No. 1 defense.
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Hurts is scheduled to start again Sunday in Arizona against the Cards. Pederson has not officially announced that Hurts will start the last two games - against the Cowboys and Washington, but it's widely assumed that Hurts will make those starts.
The Eagles are still in contention for the NFC East title and a playoff berth for a fourth straight year.
Wentz signed a four-year $128 million contract extension last summer that doesn’t even kick in until next year.
Although it wouldn’t be easy for the Eagles to trade Wentz, it wouldn’t be impossible. However, it’s not clear how much value he has at this point coming off a terrible season and it’s not known whether the Eagles would even want to trade Wentz after investing so much in him.
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The Eagles likely need to make a decision on Wentz’s future by the middle of March, when they are scheduled to give him a $10 million bonus.
Wentz this year became the first former Pro Bowl quarterback still in his 20s to post a passer rating below 73 in 25 years.
The Eagles were 3-8-1 in Wentz’s 12 starts, and he ranked last in the NFL in completion percentage, passer rating, yards per attempt and interception ratio among quarterbacks who started at least eight games.
It was a shocking decline for a quarterback who threw 81 touchdowns and 21 interceptions in the previous three seasons and was in the MVP race before his season-ending knee injury in 2017.
It's possible that the Eagles could either go back to Wentz as the starter in 2021 or have open competition in training camp. That depends on who the head coach is, how well Hurts plays these last three games and many other factors.
But it can't be seen favorably in the Eagles' front office that Wentz is issuing ultimatums after going through one of the worst seasons by a starting quarterback in recent Eagles history.
Last time Wentz spoke with the media was after the Packers loss and he didn’t comment on getting next year, although he did say he still believes in himself.
“I know what I am capable of,” he said. “I know I can play better. I never have doubted myself or lost confidence in my ability to play."
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