Peter King ‘mind boggled’ by Wentz behavior in Eagles exit originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
The Carson Wentz era in Philadelphia came to an end this past March when the team traded what they’d hope would be their franchise quarterback to the Indianapolis Colts for a 2021 third-round pick and a 2022 conditional second-round pick. Before his departure, there were plenty of rumors about who actually caused the relationship to go downhill ever so abruptly.
On the Eagle Eye podcast Thursday, NBC’s Football Night in America reporter Peter King is pointing the fingers at Wentz, saying he was mind-boggled but the quarterback's behavior.
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“I’m honestly mind-boggled by the reaction of Carson Wentz,” King said. “This is the big-boy league. You’ve got to understand that the best part of ability is availability, and if you’re not there or you might not be there, that team has to buy insurance for if you’re not there. I believe – and one of the reasons why I thought Jalen Hurts was a good pick – I believe that the backup quarterback is one of the top ten most important people on your team. Because you better be sure that if your quarterback gets hurt, your starter gets hurt, that your season isn’t over.”
As far as who is to blame for the drama that unfolded and how Wentz went from being the face of a franchise to traded in just four years, King believes the blame falls on Wentz.
“I probably blame Carson Wentz more for the Carson Wentz thing than I blame the Eagles,” King says “I do blame Carson Wentz more….Carson Wentz saw that his team had taken a quarterback with the 53rd pick in the draft and I think I’m probably the only person in the media who loved the pick, because in my opinion, if you can’t be sure that Carson Wentz is going to play the full year, you don’t want to have to rely on Nate Sudfeld to play six or eight games for you to get you into the playoffs. You want a good backup quarterback who can play and win games for you.”
To make his point, King repeatedly referenced the situation that happened in New England in 2014 when the Patriots drafted Jimmy Garoppolo in the second round of the draft when at that point, Tom Brady already brought four Super Bowls to New England.
“I look at Tom Brady in 2014, where all he’s done at that point is win four Super Bowls for New England, and now in the draft that year, here comes at the end of the second round, here comes Jimmy Garoppolo, a guy who’s being drafted to replace Brady, who was 37 at that time. And Tom Brady, here’s how he responded. The next four years he wins the MVP once and he wins two Super Bowls. And so, to me, that’s how a competitor responds. A competitor responds and says you are never ever taking my job. You know? And Carson Wentz just says, ‘OK, you want this guy? Let me get out of here.’”
